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June 2008
Braves vs. Phils — you could watch it if you lived in Toronto
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Toronto — OK, I’m boarding this bird in 18 minutes, so let’s see if we can get a blog done in near-record time. Please excuse its brevity.
(Blogmeister note: I’m now filing this from a Crown Room in the Atlanta airport, after finally landing here — we were an hour late leaving Toronto — and seeing that this thing, for some reason, didn’t get posted when I punched it at the Toronto airport five hours ago. Damn. I had a feeling that slow, spotty broadband service I was getting in the Toronto airport had undermined my efforts, and it did. So now the clean slate I thought I put up for you went unused for five hours. Oh, well. I tried. Better late than never, I guess.)
You folks who live in states bordering Georgia and wonder why you don’t get to see Braves games on Peachtree TV, you’ll love this one. I meant to mention it a couple times this week and kept forgetting. Now I’ve remembered:
If you live in Toronto and get the Rogers cable system, which I think that most folks there do, you get Peachtree TV. Can you believe that? I checked into my hotel room, turned on the TV, looked at my channel guide and saw WTBS. Thought I’d check it out and see what was on, and low and behold, it’s Peachtree TV, not WTBS. Unbelievable.
Don’t know if that was a screwup on the part of someone at the cable company who thought they were ordering WTBS, or if there’s some outcry in Toronto for Braves games on Peachtree TV, but there it was. And those staying in the Braves’ team hotel across town said they had it on their cable system, too.
That would help explain why there were literally hundreds of fans wearing Braves jerseys and caps and other gear at the games, when they’d really have no connection in the past couple years to the Braves otherwise, right? I mean, there were little kids wearing Braves stuff. It was a little like the old days when all the games were on TBS and Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren were as big a celebrities as the players themselves when the teams checked into hotels, fans calling out for the broadcasters’ autographs like they do for Chipper’s.
Anyway, point of the story: If you live in, say, North Carolina or Alabama and don’t get Peachtree TV, and really, really want to see the Braves games that station covers, you could always move to Toronto.
OK, it wasn’t a good point.
Starters are rockin’: Can you imagine what the Braves would be doing right now if the lineup had performed half as much to expectations as the starters have? Actually, the starters have surpassed all expectations, considering they don’t have Smoltz, Glavine (or Hampton, alright) in the rotation and still have the best starters’ ERA in the NL at 3.85.
Three of the current starters have ERAs of 3.31 or lower, and Jo-Jo’s at 4.15 and coming down steadily, especially on the road. Jurrjens at 2.94, Campillo at 3.14 and Hudson at 3.31? Compare that to the Phillies starters the Braves will face this weekend.
Hamels is a flat-out stud for the Phillies, but overall, the Braves’ rotation is far superior to the division leader’s group. But Philly’s bullpen blows away the Braves’ injury-ravaged unit.
Escobar needed: Here’s why the Braves need Escobar (and Mark Kotsay) back. Because their lineup is a mess without them, with Ruben Gotay - yes, Ruben Gotay - batting second behind the rookie Gregor Blanco, who’s coming on strong recently to dispel my major concerns about him in the leadoff spot.
But Gotay … folks, he’s hit .203 overall and 2-for-18 in the 2-hole. That’s not acceptable for the 2-hole for anything more than an emergency game here or there.
By the way, Gotay is 3-for-22 with eight strikeouts against lefties.
Francoeur’s woes: Not going to spend a lot of time chronicling what we’ve chronicled to death recently. Just wanted to update briefly.
Jeff Francoeur has hit .203 with three homers, 30 strikeouts and a .271 OBP in his last 34 games, and .130 (7-for-54) with one extra-base hit (double) in his past 15 games.
For the season, he’s hit .239 with a .294 OBP and eight homers, and .211 (20-for-95) with runners in scoring position, with 22 strikeouts and six double plays grounded into.
The Phillies’ slide: They’ve scored 31 runs while batting .191 during their current 2-9 skid, and posted a 4.74 ERA in that span.
OK, I gotta get on the plane. We leave you with a tune.
”CASINO QUEEN by Jeff Tweedy (Wilco)
Well the money’s pouring down
And the people all look down
And it’s floating out of town
I hit the second deck
And I spent my paycheck
And my wife that I just met
She’s looking like a wreck
Casino Queen
My lord you’re mean
I’ve been gambling like a fiend
On your tables so green
I always bet on black
Blackjack
I’ll pay you back
The room fills with smoke
And I’m already broke
And the dealer keeps on joking
As he takes my last token
Casino Queen
My lord you’re mean
I’ve been gambling like a fiend
On your tables so green
Casino Queen
My lord you’re mean
I’ve been gambling like a fiend
On your tables so green
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Braves close despite all that’s transpired
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Toronto — Our worldwideinterwebnet traffic is slowest on weekends, but I figured with the Braves managing to get within three games of first place after Jurrjens’ gem Friday night, we could stir up some good discussion among the denizens here during these two day games with the Jays.
Thus a new blog canvas. No, really, don’t mention it. It’s the least I could do.
A few things: Braves since April 17, despite an ugly skid in the middle of that period, are 35-32 with a .272 average and 3.51 ERA. Only the division-leading Phillies have as good or better record among NL East teams in that span, at 36-30 with a .258 average and 3.98 ERA.
Of course, the Phillies have been in free fall lately, losing 10 of their past 12 games including eight of the last nine before today. This is hard to fathom: Philly has a .184 batting average during its 1-8 skid, and scored two runs or fewer in five of those games.
OK, to finish the original point: Since April 17, Phils are 36-30 and Braves are 35-32. In that period the Mets are 32-34 with a .253 average and 4.36 ERA, the Marlins are 32-33 with a .250 average and 4.49 ERA (but 92 home runs, to Braves’ 63 and Phillies’ 88).
And for the curious, the Nats are 28-38 with a .241 average and 4.47 ERA in that span.
While Phillies have hit their worst rough patch of season, Braves have bounced back from their worst to put together a pretty good run lately despite an extremely banged-up roster, piecemeal lineup and inexperienced rotation.
It all comes back to starting pitching, as those who followed the Braves through their best years know. And lately, they’ve been getting some very good starting pitching.
After going 4-12 with a .241 average and 4.31 ERA during a stretch from May 27 to June 6 that was threatening to sink their season before the All-Star break, the Braves have gone 8-6 with a .264 average and 2.99 ERA since then (entering Saturday’s game, which is about to start as I type these words).
Besides the pitching from Jurrjens, Hudson, Campillo, Morton and Reyes, they’ve been getting timely hits and they’ve gotten a much-needed surge from Mark Teixeira while Chipper’s been sidelined.
They won last night with a lineup that included Gregor Blanco and Ruben Gotay in the first two spots, Kelly Johnson filling in for Chipper in the 3-hole, Greg Norton as DH, and rookies Brent Lillibridge and Brandon Jones in the last two spots.
Braves are running out that same lineup today, with Jones and Lillibridge reversed.
Chipper told me he’ll probably not be in lineup until Tuesday, though he hit and took some infield this morning and his injured quad feels a lot better than he did a few days ago.
Shortstop Yunel Escobar (shoulder) is still sore from where he jammed his rotator cuff while reaching out for the base when caught in double play Tuesday. He’s iffy for Sunday, and DL is a possibility, though probably still less than likely.
Infielder Omar Infante (hamstring) still isn’t ready to play, Bobby Cox said this morning.
Chipper creates runs: But you knew that. Anyway, I stumbled upon a Stats Inc category this morning for “runs created per 27 outs.” Don’t ask me how it’s computed; I’d have to look it up and will later.
But anyway, here are the NL leaders: 1. Chipper Jones, 13.01; Lance Berkman, 13.01; 3. Albert Pujols, 12.88; 4. Pat Burrell, 9.46; 5. Chase Utley, 8.96; 6. Matt Holliday, 8.79.
Tex rakes Toronto: Mark Teixeira’s 2-for-3, three-RBI game with a double and homer Friday raised his career average to .313 with 12 doubles, 16 homers and 44 RBIs in 40 games against the Blue Jays, with an 1.125 OPS.
In his past 30 games against them, it was .333 with 15 homers and 40 RBIs.
Blanco provides spar: After his recent slump, the rookie outfielder had consecutive two-hit games and three two-hit games in his past five before Saturday.
J.J. buzz: Lot of folks were still talking here today about Jair Jurrjens’ performance Friday night, when he retired the first 13 batters and threw eight scoreless innings with three hits and one walk.
He leads all major league rookies with eight wins and a 2.94 ERA and ranks third with 69 strikeouts. His ERA is the sixth-lowest in the NL among all qualifiers, just ahead of Tim Hudson’s 2.96.
Jurrjens has a 0.00 ERA and .182 opponents’ average in his past three starts, after posting an 8.40 ERA and .406 opponents’ average in his three starts before the fall at Wrigley that left him with an ankle sprain and forced him to miss a start.
For his career, Jurrjens is 11-4 with a 3.36 ERA in 23 starts, and his teams are 17-6.
I wanted to compare that to some other notable pitchers, so I chose the Braves’ Big Three and some other contemporaries. There are really not many conclusions that can be drawn from this, since some great pitchers started poorly and some mediocre pitchers started out stronger than expected.
Some guys pitched for terrible teams, some for strong teams, some in-between. Some got good run support, some got great support, some terrible. And I obviously didn’t research to find ones who started out great and have since hit the skids (it’s a blog, not a front-of-the-section Sunday story).
But here goes anyway. In their first 23 starts (team = team record in his starts; RunSupp = run support per nine innings he pitched):
Greg Maddux: 7-11, 4.46 ERA, team 9-14, RunSupp 4.15.
Tom Glavine: 5-11, 5.37 ERA, team 9-14, RunSupp 4.35.
John Smoltz: 9-10, 3.72 ERA, team 11-12, RunSupp 4.03.
Brandon Webb: 8-7, 2.59 ERA, team 12-11, RunSupp 4.54.
Jake Peavy: 10-9, 4.43 ERA, team 10-13, RunSupp 5.10.
Tim Hudson: 12-2, 3.22 ERA, team 14-9, RunSupp 6.37.
Jair Jurrjens: 11-4, 3.36 ERA, team 17-6, RunSupp 5.39.
OK, we’re in first inning. A tune as we turn attention to the game.
”WEDNESDAY” by Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers)
There was something in the envelope she passed him
That weighed more to him than paper and some ink
It had a hint of something darker and a hint of something sweet
And a little extra glue right on the tip
There was something in the pain that shot right through him
As he climbed up to the place he called his home
They say every man’s house should be his palace
But his castle stank of cat [expletive] and alone
So he opened it and found a faded picture
Of a girl he’s never met, but somehow seen
Like a memory of a dream from early childhood
Like a virgin’s idea of release
She said “I can bend my arms until they’re backward
But you can’t bend your will to take in mine
And I could hold my breath until next Wednesday
And still be doing fine”
He was sad in ways he couldn’t tell her
Though she could make his sadness all her own
He couldn’t see the use in spreading sadness
So he took his dark depression and went home
She saw things in him he never bargained
But it wasn’t enough to save either one of them
Because she took that sadness one step further
And left him all alone to face the end
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Best ERA in the National League. No, seriously
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Toronto — It’s only a 1-hour, 40-minute plane ride from Atlanta, but this is a world away. You know that when you see dozens of folks crowded around everr TV at every bar on Thursday afternoon to watch a “football” game — and it’s the Russia-Spain game from Euro2008. What most of us back home refer to as soccer.
Then there are the “Viva Cuba” tourism advertisements plastered all over Toronto city buses (not to mention the various brands of very real, very good Cuban cigars for sale in the tobacco shop next to this Marriott).
Speaking of my hotel, as I type I’m looking at the roof of 160-year-old Church of the Holy Trinity, where Cowboy Junkies recorded their classic Trinity Session in 1988, and this year’s reworking of that album. The church roof is literally about 80 feet from my seventh-floor window.
But anyway … we’re here to talk about the Braves, so let’s do this.
If someone had told you in, say, January, that the Braves would have the National League’s best overall ERA on June 25, and also the best starters’ ERA, you probably would’ve expected John Smoltz and Tom Glavine would be having big years, and perhaps that ol’ Mike Hampton had finally made it back. Am I right? I mean, think about it.
That’s why it’s so surprising, even amazing, to see the Braves with a league-best 3.69 ERA today, and their injury-ravaged rotation with a league-best 3.88 ERA. Even the depleted bullpen, without Rafael Soriano and Peter Moylan, ranks third in the NL with a 3.37 ERA (albeit with a meager 13 saves in only 23 opportunities — yikes).
They have a better starters’ ERA than the Carlos Zambrano/Ryan Dempster-led Cubs, or the Diamondbacks of Brandon Webb/Dan Haren/Micah Owings/Randy Johnson.
This with a rotation that has a total of five wins and 17 starts from the trio of Smoltz, Glavine and Hampton, who are all on the disabled list (12 of those 17 starts came from Glavine, the others from Smoltz).
People, the Braves have the best ERA in the NL, with a starting rotation currently combrised of Tim Hudson and guys named Jo-Jo, Jorge, Jair and Charlie. If anyone had told you that was possible in February, you’d have asked what they were smoking — or told them to go watch more Euro2008 “football.”
That 3.88 starters’ ERA includes Chuck James’ 8.22 in five starts when he was brought back sooner than planned from the DL because of all the other injuries, and struggled so badly he said he needed to re-learn how to pitch. Anyway….
The point of all this? Well, I guess my point, as it were, is three-fold:
That those of you who are dreaming up all these trade scenarios by which the Braves can land C.C. Sabathia or some other available starter before July 31 aren’t really paying attention to the team’s priority ladder, because starting pitching isn’t anywhere near the top;
The Braves have managed to stay in the race when no one could have imagined they would, given all their injuries;
And, perhaps most importantly, 3. This team is in danger of wasting some very commendable work by the aforementioned foursome of Jo-Jo (Reyes), Jorge (Campillo), Jair (Jurrjens) and Charlie (Morton). By that I mean, Braves hitters are wasting it. The onus is on them, more than anyone else.
We’ve talked about this at length, so I won’t go through it all again, how they need much better production from the only healthy member of their opening day outfield, Jeff Francoeur. How then need to get Mark Kotsay back in the lineup next week, hitting like he did before his back flared. How they need Matt Diaz back in a couple of weeks, hitting as he did in 2006-2007 and not as he did this season before he crashed into a wall and hurt his knee.
And how they need — OK, we’re rehashing when we said we wouldn’t — Chipper Jones to stay healthy, obviously. Absolutely need that. And they need more consistent performance from free-agent-to-be slugger Mark Teixeira, who’s working towards another 30-40 homers and 115-125 RBIs, but frankly hasn’t had a big-impact type of season so far. Just hasn’t.
They need much better work from the leadoff spot, whoever they decide to use in that role the rest of the way.
And they need to get another right-handed bat before the trade deadline, because they can’t count on all or perhaps even most of the above needs to be filled.
The Braves start a three-game series tonight against a Toronto team that lost 15 of 20 games before taking two of three this week from Cincy. The Blue Jays ain’t exactly the Boston Red Sox, so the Braves need to make this last interleague series — it is the last one, right? — a productive one.
Tonight’s game won’t be easy, with Jurrjens facing righty Dustin McGowan, who is 4-1 with a 1.73 ERA in six home starts. But he’s right-handed, and the Braves have the second-highest average and third-best slugging percentage in the NL against righties (against lefties they’re seventh in average and an awful 15th in slugging at .377, ahead of only the Nats’ .371 - did I mention they need a right-handed bat? Just checking.)
They face a lefty tomorrow, but you’ve got to like Tim Hudson in a matchup against John Parrish, a 30-year-old lefty who has spent this season in Triple-A and been recalled to make a fill-in start for sore-elbowed Shaun Marcum.
Parrish is 12-12 with a 4.63 ERA in 161 major leagues game including 10 starts, and eight of those starts were at the beginning of his career in 2000. He hasn’t started a game in the bigs since 2004, and has a 2-6 record and 6.85 ERA as a starter.
Then again, he was 10-1 with a 2.74 ERA in 15 games (11 starts) this season in Triple-A, with 90 strikeouts in 82 innings.
Tex vs. Toronto: Teixeira has a .306 career average with 15 homers and 41 RBIs in 39 games against the Blue Jays, including .324 with 14 homers and in his past 29 games. Most of that damage was done, however, at the Rangers’ ballpark in Texas; he’s only hit .200 with three homers in 17 games at Toronto’s retractable dome.
By the way, Teixeira’s got a charity golf tourney on Monday at White Columns Country Club in Alpharetta. Proceeds from the event will go to Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, a statewide non-profit organization. If you want to play or donate call 404-870-6589, or e-mail lorend@pcageorgia.org.
As for the possibility of him re-upping with the Braves, Is it a good sign that Teixeira is bothering to set up a golf tourney in Atlanta? Or does it mean anything at all? I don’t know.
Game on the Green: I don’t know what the weather’s like back in Atlanta, but hopefully it’s good for Saturday’s first Game on the Green in Smyrna Market Village. My understanding is that they’re showing the game on two huge outdoor screens there (don’t cost nothin’).
Maybe they’ll even show a shot of us typing away in the pressbox. Bowman on the giant outdoor screen - oh, my.
CD additions: Couple of you were right about the new Wolf Parade CD. I got in here yesterday, and it’s great. I’d have that on my best-of the half-year list, along with one I forgot when I made that list last week, Bon Iver’s Emma Forever. Also, for those fans of the eclectic and brilliant Bonnie “Prince” Billy, I got his new CD Lie Down In the Light yesterday, and it might be his best. One other purchase: Sloan’s Parallel Play. Great Canandian rock band.
Speaking of great Canadians, let’s take it out with a classic from The Man.
“EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE” by Neil Young
I think I’d like to go back home
And take it easy
There’s a woman that I’d like to get to know
Living there
Everybody seems to wonder
What it’s like down here
I gotta get away from this day-to-day running around,
Everybody knows this is nowhere.
Everybody, everybody knows
Everybody knows.
Every time I think about back home
It’s cool and breezy
I wish that I could be there right now
Just passing time.
Everybody seems to wonder
What it’s like down here
I gotta get away from this day-to-day running around,
Everybody knows this is nowhere.
Everybody, everybody knows
Everybody knows.
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Escobar still learning to temper emotions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yunel Escobar is benched today, but apparently not for the reason some of us expected he might be.
The fiery shortstop hurt his left shoulder when he dove (or dived, if you prefer) back to first base on the double play that led to his ejection in the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s loss to the Brewers, after he argued with the umpire and threw his batting helmet in disgust.
Escobar took a few swings in batting practice this morning and said “No mas,” or something along those lines. The shoulder was too sore to swing, he said.
So he was scratched from the lineup and Ruben Gotay was inserted in the No. 2 spot. The top of the order not looking too formidable today, with .242-1-13 leadoff man Gregor Blanco and .226-1-4 utility man Gotay.
After that it’s 3. Kelly Johnson (in place of the hurtin’ Hoss; Chipper expected to DH in Toronto series that starts Friday), 4. Mark Teixeira (seeking to continue his day-game success), 5. Brian McCann, 6. Omar Infante, 7. Jeff Francoeur, 8. Brandon Jones, and 9. Jorge Campillo.
Infante is playing shortstop, Gotay’s at third.
Brewers have Jeff Suppan (4-5, 3.92) on the mound. The veteran right-hander is 3-5 with a 4.15 ERA in his past 10 starts, including 1-5 with a 5.96 ERA and .318 opponents’ average in five road starts in that period.
Before throwing eight scoreless innings to beat the Braves on May 28, Suppan had been 0-4 with a 7.78 ERA in four career starts against them.
Of course, most of those starts were against more formidable lineups than the one the Braves are running out there today. So we’ll see.
The Escobar thing: So what are the Braves going to do about Escobar’s temper, which has been on display more in recent weeks, perhaps because of the team’s struggles and/or his own recent difficulties driving in runs or hitting anything other than singles.
The short answer: Nothing. By that I mean, they’re not going to bench him or otherwise punish him. They all really like Escobar, but they’re re-emphasizing to him that he’s got to rein in the temper at least to a degree.
GM Frank Wren said it’s a fine line, that he’s always played with passion and that his fire and desire makes him an exciting player to watch and a sparkplug for the team.
Wren believes the Braves have the leadership — Cox, hitting coach Terry Pendleton, bench coach Chino Cadahia (a fellow Cuban), Eddie Perez, and older teammates — to make Escobar grasp the importance of playing with a little more control, not getting on the bad side of umpires, not getting tossed from games.
He’s gotten a lot better at it since his early minor league career, when some wondered if Escobar’s temper and attitude might hold him back. He’s made big strides, but in recent weeks there have been a few incidents where he’s reacted to close calls in a way you just can’t do.
They’re trying to get him to understand the subtle differences in how he reacts to calls and how certain other players might react, how they might bitch and complain loudly about the umpire, but do it while looking the other way.
Or how some of them might even toss a batting helmet and get away with it, because they do it in such a way that they’re not showing up the umpire to the degree that Escobar did last night, when he slammed his helmet while looking at, and shouting at, the first-base umpire.
Can’t do that. Umps remember that. He’s lost for the game, and in danger of getting the raw end of future close calls by some umps who’ll remember that. You don’t want to develop a reputation among the umping fraternity as a guy who shows them up. Especially if you’re a young, relatively unestablished player.
I talked to Eddie and he brought up a very interesting point that might help explain the difference in culture, in what Escobar came from in Cuba, where he learned to play the game while wearing the junior-national team uniform.
“My first two years here they sent me to extended spring [training] to learn to play the game the right way,” said Perez, who is Venezuelan. “I hated being sent there. But I’m glad they did it, because I learned how to play, so I didn’t look like him [Escobar].
“He’s a great kid. But in Cuba, they teach you how to hate the umpire, hate the other team, hate everybody on the field. When I was playing [in international tournaments] I’d see those guys in the hotel and they’d say, ‘Hey, we see you on TV, nice to meet you’ and all that. Then in the game you’d try to talk to them and the same guys would look at you like, ‘Get out of my face.’
“He’s a great kid. He’s learning and learning. Last night something happened, and he’s going to learn from that.”
Escobar said through a translator this morning: “I’m a very intense player. I’m not trying to be nasty to the umpires. Sometimes it works both ways, there have been encounters [recently between players and umpires]. But I’m not a hot-tempered person, just intense.”
He also said that from this point on, he’s not even going to look at umpires anymore.
We’ll see. That might be a good strategy for him, though.
By the way, Escobar has hit .279 (17-for-61) in his past 16 games, but has only four extra-base hits (all doubles) and as many errors (two) as RBI in that stretch.
Draft-pick signings: The Braves signed 18 of their 51 draft picks, including second-rounder Ezekiel Spruill, a right-handed pitcher from Kell High in Marietta and the team’s third selection.
The Braves haven’t signed top pick Brett DeVall, the 6-foot-4 lefty from Niceville (Fla.) High, but they still have nearly two months to get a deal done.
Blanco’s struggling: After hitting .298 with a .409 on-base percentage I his first 40 games, Blanco has hit just .178 (16-for-90) with a .275 OBP in his past 26 games before today.
He’s on a 2-for-23 skid with seven strikeouts in his past six games.
The Braves hope to have Mark Kotsay back from the DL next week, and it can’t come too soon. His return would presumably allow Blanco to move back into a platoon left-field role and/or backup at all outfield positions.
Kotsay went 0-for-4 in his first rehab game Tuesday at Double-A Mississippi, but had no pain and hit at least one ball hard, according to Wren. He DH’d last night and will probably play center field today, easing back into things.
Blanco has hit .268 with a .371 OBP vs. righties, but just .156 (7-for-45) with a .278 OBP and 18 strikeouts vs. lefties.
When leading off any inning, he’s hit .200 (11-for-55) with 10 strikeouts.
OK, a tune: Just seems appropriate.
”FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING” by Johnny Cash
How high’s the water, mama?
Two feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, papa?
Two feet high and risin’
We can make it to the road in a homemade boat
That’s the only thing we got left that’ll float
It’s already over all the wheat and the oats,
Two feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, mama?
Three feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, papa?
Three feet high and risin’
Well, the hives are gone,
I’ve lost my bees
The chickens are sleepin’
In the willow trees
Cow’s in water up past her knees,
Three feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, mama?
Four feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, papa?
Four feet high and risin’
Hey, come look through the window pane,
The bus is comin’, gonna take us to the train
Looks like we’ll be blessed with a little more rain,
4 feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, mama?
Five feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, papa?
Five feet high and risin’
Well, the rails are washed out north of town
We gotta head for higher ground
We can’t come back till the water comes down,
Five feet high and risin’
Well, it’s five feet high and risin’
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Getting defensive early in the morning
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s a false alarm, folks. I’m not really blogging. What you are reading is a figment of your imagination.
Actually, I am blogging. Only it’s going to probably magically disappear - poof! - once DOB gets to the ballpark this morning and makes his rounds and freshens up a blog with some news to post around midday as usual for a day game.
But since word is out that you fine denizens are insatiable, we are here to feed you breakfast today. And I invite you to jump on board until DOB takes the reins.
Only, it’s not actually morning and today is still yesterday. We are pulling some newspaper tricks on the digital side of things, and I’m writing this the night before. That way they can be assured I have it to them by early in the morning. (I’m a sportswriter. I don’t do mornings.)
All that is to say, it’s still very much Tuesday night and that means I still have shoddy defense very fresh in my mind.
Four errors to ruin Charlie Morton’s home debut? Two by Escobar. One by Frenchy. One by Infante. And we’re not even talking about the ball that Brandon Jones froze on and watched go over his head for a hit?
I don’t know about you, but watching one blunder after another got me wondering - who would I most like to see out there at each position for the Braves, game on the line, ball hit to him?
And I can only pick from those who have played for the Braves, guys I’ve seen with my own eyes. These are players I just have a feeling about in my gut - because isn’t that what defense is all about?
Not groundballs taken in infield practice or running in the outfield to a stopwatch. I’m talking soft hands, guts of steel and baseball instincts.
(You’re going to have to fill in where I leave off in the 80s, by the way. I was dealing in Duke basketball and pink lipstick that decade. The Braves didn’t really enter my consciousness outside of an occasional family trip to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium until Steve Avery was pitching against the Pirates.)
To me, defense can’t be measured in a stat - sorry Bill James and range factor and all that stuff. Maybe those guys can measure it in a stat, but as for me? I’m going on naked eye, the players I’ve seen and who I would want where.
You are going to differ with me, and I invite you to. But here’s what I’m thinking.
Greg Maddux at pitcher. Yes it matters. And yes that was the easiest one. Nobody gets as square as he does after he releases the ball and ready to make a play.
Catcher, not as easy. I’m going Eddie Perez, because Maddux trusted in him. And catching is more than just throwing to second. It’s calling a game and blocking pitches and putting up a nice, big target.
First base. Tex. Haven’t seen a first baseman for the Braves who plays first like a third baseman. It’s been wobbly there for years, hasn’t it? Well, I take that back. Andres Galarraga was catlike. But Tex is even better.
Second base. Can I go Glenn Hubbard, even though I didn’t see him much? If you can teach the position as well as he can, then geez, you probably played it nicely. I know Bobby loved Mark Lemke, for his grit and toughness on the double play. Nobody I’ve seen in the years since blows me away. You tell me.
Third base. I’d take Chipper and the way he played in the 1995 Division Series vs. the Rockies. Can’t do that? TP? Won three Gold Gloves. Or how about Ken Caminiti the years before he came to the Braves?
Shortstop. In a pinch, I might even go Rafael Belliard on you. So his range isn’t out of this world, but after last night, I just want somebody to catch the ball, OK?
Arm? Rafael Furcal. But total package? Honestly I’ve got to say Yunel Escobar has got the gifts. Better range than Edgar Renteria, and I loved Edgar’s steadiness. Arm almost as good as Furcal. Quickness and acrobatics and potential for the uncanny play - it’s all there. It just wasn’t for a few moments tonight (er, um, I mean last night.)
Left field: Ryan Klesko. Just kidding. I don’t know. Isn’t that where they just put the guy they don’t know what to do with, or the leftover right fielders? Reggie Sanders wasn’t bad, I don’t think. Deion Sanders and Ron Gant probably held their own. I can’t remember well enough. I gotta say maybe Ryan Langerhans could get the nod here. Talking purely defense.
Center field: Andruw Jones.
Right field: Brian Jordan. Not always graceful but tough as they come. Would do anything to make a play for you.
OK, that’s it. And by now, I have to figure I’ve worked some of you into a lather. Somebody is ready to start typing that I don’t know a damn thing about baseball. Fine. That’s what I’m here for, to get you good and riled up. Now fire away.
Let it out, good people. Tell me what you think.
To continue this conversation, click here and join David O’Brien’s blog from today’s game at Turner Field.
Braves still in it, but need an infusion
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Don’t ever let anyone like me tell you the first couple of weeks of the 162-game baseball season aren’t critical.
Here’s what I mean: The Braves are 33-31 since April 17. Granted, it’s not particularly good. But it’s better than the Marlins (31-30) or the Mets (30-32) over that same span, and only three games behind the Phillies (35-27).
But yet the Braves sit in fourth place, and have been in third or fourth for most of the season. They’re 4-1/2 games behind the Phillies, 3-1/2 games behind the hanging-tough young Marlins, and a half-game behind the dysfunctional Mets.
And it wouldn’t be that way if the Braves hadn’t gotten off to one of their typical bad starts in the first two weeks of the season. They were 5-9 through April 16, while the Marlins were 9-5 and the Mets were 7-6 (the Phillies were 7-8).
The Braves did things the way they often did during their run of 14 consecutive division titles, not panicking or even seeming to be concerned at all after that 5-9 start.
The thing is, most of those Braves teams during the division-title run were loaded with stud pitching and more middle-of-the-order hitters who were either more proven and/or a bit younger than the team’s current best hitter.
All those Braves teams could afford to get off to a bad start, even if that start lasted a month, because they knew at any given time they were going to go on an absurd run, a 35-10 surge or something like that to reel in the rest of the division and then another one later in the summer to leave teams in their dust.
This team can’t do that. It doesn’t have the healthy, proven pitching to expect such a sizzling mid-summer run, and it doesn’t have enough catalyst-type offensive players who can alternate putting the team on their backs and carrying it a while.
Fortunately for the Braves, this division also doesn’t have any team that’s not without its flaws. For that reason, and that reason only, the Braves have a legitimate chance to stay in the race until the end.
They really do.
But they’re going to have to play better than they have, because the Phillies probably aren’t going to have many 3-9 skids like they’re currently in, which has permitted the Braves to not just stay close but actually gain a game on the division leaders during a very mediocre stretch for the Braves.
The Braves needed to come out of the gates quicker, obviously. But they didn’t. They had a string of injuries, every older player they were counting on basically turning into a worst-case scenario and getting hurt.
But despite all the problems, and remarkably, despite their 6-11 record since June 6, the Braves are still just 4-1/2 games out of first place (albeit behind three teams in the division standings).
What needs to be done? Pretty obvious they need to pick up another right-handed bat, be it Pittsburgh’s Xavier Nady or Jason Bay, or someone else that might be available for a reasonable bounty between now and the trade deadline.
Nady’s .314 average, 10 homers and .376 OBP, or Bay’s .283 average, 15 homers and 40 RBI, would provide a much needed boost to an injury-riddled and/or underperforming Braves outfield that ranks near the bottom of the NL in most offensive stats.
Braves outfielders are 10th in average (.262), 14th in homers (18) and 14th in slugging percentage (.386) in the NL.
Yes, the hopeful return of Mark Kotsay next week could help a lot, if he stays healthy. And Matt Diaz could be back in 2-3 weeks and could help a lot, if he hits like the Diaz of the past couple of seasons, and not the one who struggled so this season before his knee injury.
But the Braves can’t count on both of those guys, or even one of them, providing all the improvement they need from the outfield in the second half of the season. And they can’t count on Jeff Francoeur to snap out of his career-worst slump.
Francoeur has hit .233 with five homers in his past 66 games, and .206 with nine RBI in his past 27 games. Braves right fielders (Francoeur in all but two games) are 14th in the NL in average (.244), last in OBP (.298) and 13th in slugging (.394).
Keep in mind, that’s the outfield position they were counting on getting the most production out of in the absence of Andruw Jones, not LF or CF.
You gotta feel for Francoeur, if you know him. Very good guy, a hard worker who cares as much as anyone on the team about winning and doing things right.
But his head is so full of advice now, he doesn’t know which way is up. He’s trying things, including the right-eye contact and a new position for his hands, etc., desperate to snap out of this funk.
Yesterday, I saw something I’d never seen from Francoeur: He slipped in his usually upbeat, perfectly accommodating image that he always potrays when the cameras are on: A local TV guy asked him, on-camera, about all the bashing he was getting on the radio that morning (slick how TV guy passed the buck to the radio guys), and Francoeur said, “I don’t listen to that bull$%#@,” only he didn’t use those symbols. He said the whole word.
It wasn’t a big deal, since they weren’t live. But it was revealing. He’s never struggled like this, never been this frustrated. He’d probably like to punch the next one of us who refers to him as Golden Boy.
Dude just wants to play ball and figure things out.
I’d suggest he start with a one-on-one, hours-long session with Terry Pendleton and Chipper Jones, who are always willing to help. Time for Francoeur to understand that pitchers have figured out his weaknesses, the holes in his swing, his overagressiveness and are exploiting it all to the hilt.
He’s too talented to lose an entire season. And the Braves, with all their injuries to others, need him to produce like never before.
Without him, they’re got to cross fingers and hope for the best from the likes of Kotsay, Diaz, and Frank Wren, who really does need to make a move or two in the coming weeks for the Braves to have a serious shot at getting back to the postseason and avoiding a third consecutive October of watching playoffs on TV.
Speaking of Chipper…. You folks will love this item on Hoss from, of all places, The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/chipper_jones
OK, gotta get down to the clubhouse for updates on Chipper, Soriano (yeah, right), etc. But first, I leave you with a classic from one of the greatest. Been listening to the Rastaman Vibration remastered album a lot lately, and I also love Johnny Cash’s cover of this with Joe Strummer, on the Cash Unearthed box set.
”REDEMPTION SONG” by Bob Marley
Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the and of the almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Won’t you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
‘Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
‘cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it’s just a part of it:
We’ve got to fulfill de book.
Won’t you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
‘cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy,
‘cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say its just a part of it:
We’ve got to fulfill de book.
Won’t you help to sing
Dese songs of freedom?
‘cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs
All I ever had:
Redemption songs
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.
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Tex’s bottom-line numbers will make it rain free-agent cash (but you knew that)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three home runs from Tex on Sunday, now that makes for interesting debate, wouldn’t you say?
Hey, there’s a reason he was the first Braves player to ever hit three homers in a game in the more than one decade that Turner Field has been opened _ because it’s very difficult and takes a special hitter.
Think about it: Andruw Jones never did it, and he hit over 30 homers in seven seasons while Turner Field was his home park, including 92 homers during 2005-2006 (stop a moment; does that feel like a long time ago?).
Chipper’s never done it, and he’s hit 26 or more homers nine times since Turner Field opened for baseball in 1997 (he hit three in a game at RFK in D.C.).
Say what you will about Mark Teixeira’s numbers and how he goes about accumulating them, but they are impressive on the bottom line, and some team, whether the Braves or a bigger-market club, will pay a very large sum for his free-agent services after this season.
Anyway, here’s what Braves fans want to know: Is Teixeira ready to put the team on his back and carry it a while, after Chipper Jones and Brian McCann carried so much of the load to this point of the season?
And I don’t have an answer. We thought the notoriously slow-starting Teixeira was ready to go on a torrid stretch a while back, when he hit .349 with five homers and 14 RBIs in an 11-game stretch from May 29 to June 8.
But that was followed by another slump in which he went 7-for-43 (.163) with one extra-base hit (a double) and 16 strikeouts over a 12-game stretch that ended with yesterday’s outburst.
So is he ready now? Might that huge output be the start of something more than a two-week burn? Or just the product of facing Carlos Silva, the worst starter in the majors for the past six weeks or so? We’ll see. Stay tuned.
Meantime, consider this rather stunning stat I stumbled upon this morning. And think how attractive Wrigley Field and the day-game playing Cubs might be to Teixeira (that is, if they didn’t already have an entrenched, power-hitting, Gold Glove first baseman in Derrek Lee):
In 25 day games this season, Teixeira has .372 (35-for-94) with nine homers, 31 RBI, a .478 OBP and .755 slugging percentage, for an enormous 1.333 OPS.
In 50 night games, he’s batted just .221 with four homers, 24 RBI, .309 OBP and .321 slugging percentage (.630 OPS).
Folks, that’s pretty incredible, that split at mid-season. I mean, his OPS is more than double in day games.
And then I started looking at his previous five seasons. And guess what? This is the third time in four years that he’s produced far better numbers in day games than at night.
Guess he wasn’t exaggerating when he told me recently that he starts hitting when it warms up. That must go for day-game heat, too.
Last season, Teixeira hit .382 with 12 homers and a 1.235 OPS in 34 day games, and .278 with 18 homers and an .865 OPS in 98 night games.
In 2005, it wasn’t nearly as extreme a difference, but he did hit 19 homers with a .612 slugging percentage in 206 at-bats in 51 day games, compared to 24 homers with a .557 slugging percentage in 438 at-bats.
In his other seasons, there wasn’t a marked difference in day and night games. So perhaps it’s a vision thing as he’s gotten older? (Here I’m just throwing out wild speculation based on nothing, the kind of stuff that’s great in blogs).
For his career, he’s got a .303 average with 64 homers and a .933 OPS in 228 day games, and a .277 average with 119 homers and an .867 OPS in 594 night games. The slugging percentage is more than 100 points higher in day games, .605 to .504.
Anyway, one more interesting bottom-line stat for Braves fans to consider. Again, I know that the numbers have seemed a bit hollow at times, that he doesn’t seem to have quite as many big hits as you’d expect from such a productive hitter, but here goes:
Since being traded Atlanta last season at the trade deadline, Teixeira has hit .291 with 25 doubles, 30 homers, 111 RBI, a .382 OBP and .528 slugging percentage (.910 OPS) in 129 games for the Braves.
In that same period since Aug. 1, 2007, here’s what a few select others have done:
Albert Pujols has hit .345 with 29 doubles, 25 homers, 74 RBI, a .462 OBP and .603 slugging percentage (1.065 OPS) in 120 games.
Chase Utley has hit .300 with 26 doubles, 27 homers, 84 RBI, a .384 OBP and .574 slugging (.958 OPS) in 108 games.
Chipper Jones has hit .367 with 31 doubles, 28 homers, 92 RBI, a .456 OBP and .631 slugging (1.087 OPS) in 120 games.
Lance Berkman has hit .335 with 34 doubles, 37 homers, 96 RBI, a .425 OBP and .656 slugging (1.081 OPS) in 128 games.
Alex Rodriguez has hit .338 with 23 doubles, 33 homers, 94 RBI, a .431 OBP and .642 slugging (1.073 OPS) in 109 games.
David Ortiz has hit .300 with 29 doubles, 30 homers, 96 RBI, a .411 OBP and .599 slugging (1.010 OPS) in 107 games.
Manny Ramirez has hit .292 with 23 doubles, 17 homers, 69 RBI, a .379 OPB and .496 slugging (.875 OPS) in 101 games.
Derrek Lee has hit .299 with 33 doubles, 26 homers, 74 RBI, a .367 OBP and .521 slugging (.888 OPS) in 130 games.
Oh, by the way: As a team, the Braves lead the NL with a .290 average and .368 OBP in day games, while ranking sixth with a .264 average in night games (and a .340 OBP).
Best CD’s of 2008 (a working list): We’re about halfway through the year, so here’s my working-toward-a-top-25 CDs list for 2008. Not that they’ll all make the year-end list, but many will. Some terrific new music in the first half of this rich year (the economy sucks, but the music output certainly does not). In no particular order, here’s the best of what I’ve bought (there are obviously other great ones I’ve not purchased):
Drive-By Truckers Brighter Than Creation’s Dark; My Morning Jacket Evil Urges; Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Dig, Lazarus, Dig!; The Roots Rising Down; James McMurtry Just Us Kids; R.E.M. Accelerate; Aimee Mann @#%&*! Smilers; The Black Angels Directions To See a Ghost; Santogold (self-titled CD); The Raconteurs Consolers of the Lonely;
The Black Keys Attack & Release; The Whigs Mission Control; Duffy Rockferry; The Raveonettes Lust, Lust, Lust; Elbow Seldom Seen Kid; Devotchka A Mad & Faithful Telling; Mudcrutch self-titled CD; Joseph Arthur set of four EPs (I’ve got three of them); Fleet Foxes (self-titled debut).
NOTE: I’d have Radiohead In Rainbows on this list, but it was released online last year.
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Braves need an R.E.M.-like resurgence
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gregg Allman’s “I’m No Angel” is playing on the stadium loudspeakers and Mark Kotsay is taking full-on cuts in the batting cage. That’s a pretty good start to a Sunday morning for me and for the Braves.
But Kotsay’s still at least a few days from returning. And I know you’re more interested in a couple others among the Braves’ walking wounded.
First, Chipper Jones is status quo. Day-to-day after his surprising pinch-hit appearance (and huge single) last night. Quad’s still messed up, and no word when he might be back in the lineup. But they obviously aren’t thinking DL, or he wouldn’t have hit last night.
Yunel Escobar’s is also unchanged. He’s got a strained hip flexor, injured Friday night. He ran well in his pinch-hit appearance last night, but he’s still sore and “not ready to play,” he said. He took BP and infield today, though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back in the lineup as soon as tomorrow.
Bobby Cox said the trainers have told him it’s a touchy injury, though, in that if he injures it any worse, if he tears it, he’d be out a couple months. So they’re testing him daily, doing strength tests, and also stressing to him the importance of being honest about how much discomfort there is in the hip.
Ruben Gotay is at third base and Omar Infante is back at shortstop after his uncharacteristic first-inning defensive gaffes last night. “Infante is a very good shortstop,” Cox said today, surely aware of what folks are thinking after watching those mistakes the veteran utility man made last night.
(Personally, I think Infante is strong defensively at every position he’s played. Just had an awful night. It happens.)
Why no Brent Lillibridge in the lineup? I think the Braves are trying to be careful and not throw him in there and have him go 0-for-4 again like he did in each of his two games when thrust into the lineup earlier this season at N.Y.
The Lil’ Bridge had a couple of three-hit games before he was called up, but he was still hitting .207 with 55 strikeouts in 208 at-bats at Richmond. He’s insurance right now because he can play three infield positions and even some outfield in a pinch.
Oh, and what’s this? No Jeff Francoeur in right field? Yes, it’s true.
Francouer is out of the lineup and Greg Norton is in RF. I asked Bobby and he said he told Francoeur in Texas last week that he was going to rest him in this Sunday day game. “He needs a breather,” Cox said.
Francoeur’s got some black-and-blue marks on his left arm where he was hit by pitches the last two nights, near the elbow and hand. He’s also got bruises on his shin from fouling a couple balls off.
Regardless of all that, most observers (including this one) would suggest he needs a day or two off because he’s struggling. Mightily.
Since May 27, Francoeur has hit .214 (21-for-98) with three homers, nine RBI and a .287 OBP in 25 games. The Braves are 9-16 in those games, and while there are many reasons for the losses, his lack of production is among those reasons.
He’s 4-for-32 with one walk and seven strikeouts in his past eight games, and in his past eight home games Francoeur is 6-for-33 with more double plays grounded into (two) than extra-base hits (one).
Brandon Jones is in right field today.
From frosty to sizzling: That’s what the Braves will see in the range of starting pitchers they’ll face today and tomorrow — the skidding Carlos Silva (3-5, 5.79 ERA) today and the streaking Ben Sheets (8-1, 2.74) in tomorrow’s series opener against the Brew Crew.
Silva’s overall numbers don’t reflect just how terrible he’s been lately. The man is 0-8 with an 8.49 ERA in his past nine starts, including losses in his past five starts. He is the coldest starting pitcher in baseball right now.
Sheets, on the other hand, is having a career season (he hasn’t been hurt, which is almost amazing). He’s given up more than three earn runs only twice in 14 starts, which is really, really good. He’s 4-0 with a 2.11 ERA in his past five starts, and he hasn’t lost on the road (5-0, 2.62 ERA in nine starts, with 48 strikeouts and 15 walks).
Then there are his numbers against the Braves. Oh, my.
Sheets is 8-3 in 11 starts against the Braves, including 6-1 with a 3.20 ERA in his past seven. In those seven starts he’s piled up a stunning 62 strikeouts with only six walks in 50-2/3 innings. Yes, 62 K’s, 6 walks in 50-2/3 innings.
He’s won all of his past five starts against the Braves, getting more than seven support runs per nine innings in that stretch.
R.E.M. is truly “back”: If their most recent album, the very strong Accelerate, wasn’t enough to completely convince me that R.E.M. had reclaimed its status as one of top rock bands in the world, last night was.
The boys from Athens, Ga., put on a phenomenal show at Lakewood here in Atlanta last night. Seriously, this was a great rock concert.
By the end of their approximate two-hour performance, I had forgotten (and no longer really cared) that I’d missed The National’s opening set (even though I do love that band, too). Rock shows should not start when the sun is still blazing overhead, unless it’s an all-day festival show, the kind that most middle-aged working dudes like me no longer attend.
Anyway, Modest Mouse’s middle set was fine, about as good as you can expect from a band that has to fill an opening slot for the huge headliner, and thus usually must play with lesser equipment and without all the bells-and-wistles visual effects, etc.
But R.E.M. would’ve blown away most bands on this night, which I’m assuming was pretty indicative of how they’ve played on this entire tour. They rocked hard, folks. Forget that mostly bland period between the excellent New Adventures in Hi-Fi album and the “comeback” blast of “Accelerate.”
If they were in danger of slipping from relevance for many younger rock fans (and I admit, they had), then they have certainly stepped forward with this album and this tour and answered any skeptics and critics, at least any who are actually paying attention and listening to the music.
Not only did they play every solid song from the new album, but I was pleasantly surprised - make that thrilled - that they played so many of the older gems, including “Fall On Me,” (with the greant former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr joining on guitar), “Pretty Persuasion,” “Rockville” “Driver 8,” “Orange Crush,” “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?,” “Electrolite,” and a slightly speeded up, muscular version of “Harborcoat.” Sublime, it was.
I’ve seen R.E.M. 10 or 12 times since 1983, the year I saw them play at old Hoch Auditorium on campus at the University of Kansas, just after Murmur was released and was the hottest thing going on college radio.
Stipe had long, curly hair then, and kept his back to the audience for most of the show. Saw them every year for the next five or six years after that, as they’d release a new album annually - Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life’s Rich Pageant, Document, Green and tour annually.
While I have only vague memories of those shows, for some reason (ahem), I’ve got to say, I can’t recall the band ever being much better, much tighter, much more entertaining than they were last night. Honestly.
They had a truly remarkable run of high-integrity, high-grade and original rock and roll during the 1980s, no dud among those early albums. Other than Monster, they really didn’t have even a mediocre album until after drummer Bill Berry left the band for health reasons more than a decade later.
Now, after figuring I’d be one of the R.E.M. completists who buys every album they put out, regardless of critical reviews, on the day it’s released, for as long as they hung on, it’s been a really uplifting thing to see one of my very favorite all-time bands come back so strong.
These are musicians who are all older than me playing new songs so good that most younger, trendier, “edgier” bands with members half their age can only dream of ever producing if they stay together half as long as the boys from R.E.M. have. Not to mention the classics most of those bands will never produce.
More than 25 years later, R.E.M. is back kicking tail. For us of a certain age, who went to college in the early 1980s, that’s great stuff. Seeing them on that stage last night, doing their thing, it doesn’t get much better.
”LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE” by R.E.M.
It’s only when your poison spins into the life you’d hoped to live
and suddenly you wake up in a shaken panic now
You had set me up like a lamb to slaughter
Garbo as a farmer’s daughter
Unbelievable, the gospel according to who?
I lay right down.
All your sad and lost apostles
hum my name and flare their nostrils
Choking on the bones you tossed to them
now I’m not one to sit and spin
because living well’s the best revenge
Baby, I am calling you on that
Don’t turn your talking points on me.
History will set me free
The future is ours and you don’t even rate a footnote now!
So who’s chasing you? Where did you go?
You disappear mid-sentence
In a judgment crisis I see my in and go for it
You weakened shill.
All your sad and lost apostles
hum my name and flare their nostrils
Choking on the bones you tossed to them
now I’m not one to sit and spin
because living well is the best revenge
and baby, I am calling you on that
You savour your dying breath
I forgive but I don’t forget
You work it out, let’s hear that argument again
Camera three… GO NOW!
All your sad and lost apostles
hum my name and flare their nostrils
Choking on the bones you tossed to them
now I’m not one to sit and spin
because living well is the best revenge
and baby, I am calling you on that
Baby, I am calling you on that
Baby, I am calling you on that
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Road disaster averted, now Braves need to make hay
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Braves return from the road having avoided a disaster the trip threatened to become after the sweep at Wrigley Field started the four-city trek across America.
But 4-6 trips are not going to reel in the Phillies, especially since the Braves’ Turner Field magic began to (predictably) wear off on the last homestand. Nobody thought they were going to win four of every five at home all season, did they?
Anyway, now is the time to make a bit of hay for the Bravos, who have the reeling Mariners in town for a three-game series starting tonight. The Mariners, who fired their GM last week, then fired their manager a couple days ago.
The Mariners, who are 14-37 with a 4.97 ERA and 3.5 runs per game since April 23, and a 6-18 record and 5.46 ERA in their past 24 road games.
Bottom line, Braves need to sweep the series to assure a solid six-game homestand, because Milwaukee comes in next week to finish the homestand, and the Brewers are starting to hit their stride, currently on a 16-6 roll.
But let’s not kid ourselves into thinking a sweep of the Mariners will be easy. Not with Erik Bedard going tonight. Not only is the former Baltimore ace better than his record (4-4 indicates), but he’s a lefty.
And the Braves have struggled mightily against plenty of lesser lefties, which is part of the reason you hear them increasingly connected to trade rumors. From people I talk to and trust, the Randy Winn rumor last week was unfounded; Braves aren’t interested in an outfielder who makes $8 mill, hits for little power and doesn’t throw well.
But the Ryan Freel rumor might - repeat, might — have some legs. Freel makes less than half of what Winn makes and can play a solid center field, which has some attraction for a Braves team that simply doesn’t know what it’s going to get from sore-backed Mark Kotsay the rest of the way.
Braves rookie OF Gregor Blanco has been solid on many counts, but the speedster is hitting just .179 against lefties with 15 strikeouts in 39 at-bats, and he’s a team-worst 9-for-45 (.200) with runners in scoring position. (He’s hit .281 with a .391 OBP in 135 at-bats against righties.)
Freel is hitting .339 (21-for-62) against lefties with six doubles, four walks, seven strikeouts and a .388 OBP and .435 slugging percentage.
No, I don’t like the way Freel leaps for every ball when a more controlled approach would benefit him on some plays. And he has little power. But dude does play with a fire. And, hey, he’s hitting .298 overall, including .356 with runners on base and .423 (11-for-26) with runners in scoring position.
From the leadoff spot, he’s hitting .301 with a .363 OBP in 83 at-bats this season. And not getting as much playing time as he wants, which he’s said publicly. Reds might even pick up a bit of his modest salary in a trade.
The lefty thing: While the Braves’ batting average vs. lefties is a middle-of-the-road .269 (seventh in the NL), what’s more reflective and telling is their on-base percentage against lefties, a meager .339, 11th in the NL. And even worse, their anemic .378 slugging against lefties, 14th in the league, ahead of only the Nats and Padres.
The Braves clearly need another right-handed bat, and soon.
Against righties, the Braves are as strong as any team in the NL. They rank second in average (.273), first in OBP (.353), and second in slugging (.443, a whopping 65 points better than their slugging percentage vs. lefties).
Why are they so much worse against lefties than we expected they’d be entering the season? Well, start with the cleanup hitter and the right fielder. Mark Teixeira is batting just .216 (21-for-96) with six extra-base hits and a .667 OPS in 97 at-bats vs. lefties, compared to .294 with 20 extra-base hits and an .863 OPS in 177 at-bats vs. righties.
This is particularly odd given that the switch-hitting Teixeira has hit lefties better than righties in the past. Last season he batted .357 with a 1.000 OPS vs. lefties, and .282 with a .946 OPS vs. righties.
In 2006, he hit .302 with a .977 vs. lefties, and .275 with an .853 OPS vs. righties.
Good luck trying to figure that one out.
Meanwhile, the increasingly maligned Jeff Francoeur is batting just .240 with a .690 OPS in 96 at-bats against lefties, compared to .259 with a .728 OPS vs. righties.
This, too, is a big change from his previous numbers (so is Francoeur’s production with runners on, with RISP, in close-and-late, etc., but that’s another story).
In 2007, Francoeur hit .317 with an .853 OPS vs. lefties, and .281 with a .747 OPS vs. righties.
In 2006, he hit .292 with an .853 OPS vs. lefties, and .248 with a .702 OPS vs. lefties.
In his rookie half-season in 2005, Francoeur hit a jaw-dropping .379 with a 1.211 OPS vs. lefties (did he really do that?) and .272 with a .771 OPS vs. righties.
Again, trying figuring out that reversal of fortunes this season.
So that’s two key hitters the Braves count upon, both of them struggling mightily vs. lefties after hitting them appreciably better than righties in the past.
Speaking of Francoeur…. At the risk of looking like we’re piling on, Frenchy is hitting .241 with runners on base, .233 with runners in scoring position (RISP), and .222 in late-and-close situations.
Very low for a young guy who was almost always a solid clutch hitter in his first three seasons, even when his other numbers might have dipped at times.
Last season he hit .303 with runners on, .341 with RISP, .312 in late-and-close situations.
In 2006 he hit .288 with runners on, .320 with RISP, .304 in late-and-close (this in a season in which he hit just .260 overall, much like this season).
And in 2005, the rookie phenom set the bar really, really hit by hitting .321 with runners on, .338 with RISP (including .359 with two outs), and .286 in close-and-late situations.
We didn’t even mention the bases-laoded woes (he’s hitless in his last 14 at-bats with bases loaded, 2-for-18 for the season, after going 8-for-22 with bases loaded in 2007). OK, now we mentioned that, too.
Ridgway vs. Stockman: Don’t ask me why lefty Jeff Ridgway was kept instead of Phil Stockman. I, like most of you, was fairly certain that Ridgway would be the one sent down when Mike Gonzalez was activated (four lefties?)
It’s not as though Ridgway is out of options or anything. And if Stockman “needed to pitch,” then frankly I don’t understand why he couldn’t pitch at the major league level - you know, for the Braves?
The big Aussie has made 10 career appearances in the majors, four in 2006 and six this season. In those 10 appearances, Stockman has allowed five hits, one run and eight walks with 13 strikeouts in 11-1/3 innings. A 0.79 ERA and .139 opponents’ average in his big league career.
Ridgway? He’s made seven appearances in the bigs (three last season, four this season) and allowed 11 hits, nine runs, three homers and one walk with two strikeouts in 4-2/3 innings. A 17.36 RA and .440 opponnents’ average.
A tune: Rode the motorcycle over to Athens yesterday, just like to get the good vibe of that town now and again. Especially with the lads of Rapid Eye Movement in Atlanta this weekend for a big show at Lakewood on Saturday, touring behind their stellar Accelerate album.
But I want to go back a bit to one of my handful of cream-of-the-crop favorites songs of theirs.
”BEGIN THE BEGIN” by R.E.M.
Birdie in the hand for life’s rich demand
The insurgency began and you missed it
I looked for it and I found it
Miles standish proud, congratulate me
A philanderer’s tie, a murderer’s shoe
Life’s rich demand creates supply in the hand
Of the powers, the only vote that matters
Silence means security silence means approval
On Zenith, on the tv, tiger run around the tree
Follow the leader, run and turn into butter
Let’s begin again, begin the begin
Let’s begin again like Martin Luther zen
The mythology begins the begin
Answer me a question I can’t itemize
I can’t think clearly, look to me for reason
It’s not there, I can’t even rhyme here in the begin
A philanderer’s tie, a murderer’s shoe
Example: the finest example is you
Birdie in the hand for life’s rich demand
The insurgency began and you missed it
I looked for it and I found it
Miles standish proud, congratulate me
A philanderer’s tie, a murderer’s shoe
Let’s begin again, begin the begin
Lets begin again
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Blanco to leadoff - at least today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You never know what you might find when you peek your head around the corner and have a glance at the lineup board in the clubhouse. But today, I saw Gregor Blanco in the leadoff spot (pause for applause, denizens?).
Here’s what the board said:
1.Gregor Blanco CF
2.Yunel Escobar SS
3.Chipper Jones 3B
4.Mark Teixeira DH
5.Kelly Johnson 2B
6.Greg Norton 1B
7.Jeff Francoeur RF
8.Brandon Jones LF
9.Corky Miller C
It’s hard to know if this is something Bobby Cox is just tinkering with today - Blanco has hit in the leadoff spot twice this season - or if it’s something he’s considering doing longer. He plays most everything like it’s no big deal, including this lineup, this morning.
“Change it around a little bit,” Cox said. “With a DH you can do that kind of stuff.”
So I ask “Will you see how this goes?” (translation, keep Blanco up there once the Bravest back to National League play this weekend.)
“Oh, it’s just for today,” Cox said.
So maybe Blanco is back hitting eighth tomorrow night. Or maybe he reaches base four times, and maybe he’s back in there at leadoff tomorrow.
But for today, anyway, this ought to make some folks on the blog happy.
Blanco has done nothing to hurt himself lately, regardless of where he’s hitting. Hitting ninth last night (AL lineup) he hit run-scoring triple in the ninth to drive in a key insurance run in a 5-2 win over Texas. He had a great night Friday in Anaheim, going 3-for-4 with a career-high three RBIs.
“He can bunt, take a walk, he’s done a real good job,” Cox said.
Blanco has been a leadoff hitter throughout his minor league career and likes the idea of hitting there now.
“It feels good,” said Blanco, who went only 1-for-6 in his first two games batting leadoff this season but drew three walks for a .444 on-base percentage. “It feels like we have a manager who has a lot of confidence in his players. He shows he has confidence in me.”
Hitting eight in the order (he’s been hitting ninth in interleague play - but you know what I’m getting at) brings its own set of challenges with the pitcher coming up next, often forcing hitters to expand their strike zones.
“There are a lot of things I cannot do because I’m in the eighth hole,” Blanco said. “Being leadoff that becomes more part of my game. There are a lot of things I can do. In the leadoff spot I’m capable of getting my pitch.”
Blanco said the move is welcome for Yunel Escobar too, who has put up better numbers in the No. 2 hole. Escobar has hit .273 (39-for-143) with a .352 on-base percentage as a leadoff hitter, compared to .328 (43-for-131) with a .401 on-base percentage in the 2 hole.
“He the kind of player, he can hit anywhere,” Blanco said. “But we’ve been talking about it and he feels more comfortable (hitting second). Hopefully it’ll work out this way.”
He’s not the only one who feels that way, is he?
This also drops Kelly Johnson into the fifth spot, where he might feel more comfortable too. Kelly seems like can deal with wherever Bobby puts him, takes the shuffling around in stride. Kelly has hit .189 (7-for-37) on this road trip in the No. 2 spot, and is hitting .241 in the No. 2 hole this season.
No doubt you’ll notice Frenchy is hitting seventh. It’s the lowest he’s hit in the order this season. He’s 21-for-61 (.344) in the seventh spot for his career.
Corky Miller is behind the plate today to give Brian McCann a rest the day game after a night game. Miller has been catching Jorge Campillo and Campillo pitches tomorrow night at home against Seattle. Cox said he probably won’t catch Miller in back-to-back games though, so expect McCann to be back in there tomorrow night.
GOING GONZO: Things were still abuzz about Mike Gonzalez this morning, and you can’t help but be happy for the guy. His first outing since Tommy John surgery last night? A a save situation, a perfect ninth, 15 pitches, 10 of them for strikes. Velocity at 93, 94 mph with his fastball, and his curveball effective enough to get two of the three outs on.
He said there were 45-50 friends and family in the stands including friends going back to elementary school age, from when he lived in nearby Frisco, Tex. But among the pats on the back he got that felt especially good came from John Smoltz, who sent him a congratulatory text.
Smoltz also delivered some advice about how to handle this comeback. He does know a thing or two about being successful closing games, coming off Tommy John surgery.
“He told me ‘Remember, it feels great right now,’” Gonzalez said. “’You’ve got to make sure you keep understanding your body, understanding what’s going on with it. Don’t overdo it. If you need to take a day, take a day. Ask for a day and don’t make a big deal about that.’”
The save also gave Gonzo 31 in a row since his last blown save, which came as a middle reliever with the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 25, 2004. That was only his 30th career game and his first of three blown saves in his first three save chances. He hasn’t missed since then - regardless of all the pain he pitched in last year and regardless of the newness of being back on the mound last night. His 31 saves in a row is the longest current streak in the majors, according to Elias.
OK, Chipper Jones is back right square on .400 again after a 2-for-5 last night. He’s getting used to this teetering on the edge. We’ll see what he has to offer today.
It poured rain this morning, as some big storms rolled through the big D about 7 a.m. But the sun is shining now and the temperature is climbing and we hear we should get the game in fine. Can’t say the same for my flight tomorrow morning, but that’s another day, another set of issues.
A win today and the Braves are .500 on this trip, .500 for the season. Oh and this just in. Not only have the Seattle Mariners fired their GM Bill Bavasi this week. They just fired their manager - John McLaren - and replaced him with bench coach Jim Riggleman. So the Mariners will bring a little drama to Turner Field for the weekend.
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The drama of Chipper and .400
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three times in the last two games, Chipper Jones has come to the plate with his batting average at exactly .400. All three times he’s gone to first base unscathed - Monday night in Colorado, he hit a bases-loaded two run single, and last night in Texas he drew a pair of walks.
When he comes to the plate tonight in Texas for his first at-bat, he’ll be staring down the same deal - a chance that his batting average could fall under .400 for the first time since April 12.
And maybe the hype would be over, or come to a slow close (until it becomes clear he’s in the hunt for a batting title down the stretch). Or maybe Chipper gets a couple more hits and gets back up over .400.
Whatever happens, it feels a little dramatic to me, seeing that round number up there on the scoreboard.
As for him?
Chipper insisted that when he came up in that situation Monday, he wasn’t thinking about .400. And me being the stickler, I was like “OK, yeah, but weren’t you at least glad to get out of that game with your average above .400?”
“Yeah, but if we win 7-0 and I go under .400 I’m not going to be hanging my head about it,” Chipper said.
And then he added this, with a little more conviction in his voice:
“I’m not worried about hitting .400,” he said. “I want to get my run production numbers up, I want to get my extra base hit numbers up. Continuing to be a tough out is important to me, but I’m not going to consume myself with hitting .400. It’s a stretch to begin with, and I’m not going to kill myself trying to keep my average over .400.”
The ‘rents Larry and Lynn are here in Texas taking in these games, after making the nine-hour drive up from Chipper’s Double Dime ranch south of San Antonio. If anybody can will Chipper to keep his average up, it’s Mama and Papa Jones.
But if not, today might a good day to peruse the ol’ .400 stats one last time, just in case.
Looking up and down the chart on Baseball Almanac’s website of the all-time .400 hitters I sit here wondering what Chipper Jones’ name would look like up there with Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson and George Sisler.
Actually, no, I’m not really doing that. I can’t quite picture it happening, and Chipper can’t either, so I don’t think he would fault me that. What I’m really doing is chuckling at seeing a Rogers on that list. My cousin Rogers Hornsby? He hit .400 three times. The only other player to do that was Ty Cobb.
Since 1900, only eight men have hit .400. None since Ted Williams, of course, in 1941. Here are those eight guys who did it 13 times in all, in reverse chronological order.
Ted Williams .406 1941 Bill Terry .401 1930 Rogers Hornsby .403 1925 Rogers Hornsby .424 1924 Harry Heilmann .403 1923 George Sisler .420 1922 Rogers Hornsby .401 1922 Ty Cobb .401 1922 George Sisler .407 1920 Ty Cobb .409 1912 Ty Cobb .420 1911 Joe Jackson .408 1911 Nap Lajoie .426 1901
And you gotta love the quote the Almanac has from Ted Williams at the top of that chart.
“I hope somebody hits .400 soon,” Williams said. “Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400.”
Well count me among those pestering now, and Chipper Jones as “that guy” who 67 years later still gives proper respect to the last man to do it.
“Ted Williams is probably the greatest hitter to ever play the game from a power and average standpoint,” Jones said. “It truly is amazing, and I’ve never been accused of thinking myself a Ted Williams clone. So I’ll just do the best I can and whatever happens, happens.”
He’ll be facing rookie right-hander Eric Hurley tonight, who is making only his second major league start for the Rangers. Chipper’s got no history against him. So we’ll just have to wait and see.
McCANNix for ALL-STAR: The latest voting has Brian McCann about 500,000 votes behind Cubs catcher Geovany Soto. We know about Cubs fans and their ballot boxes, but I want to know how fair that is by the voters. Let’s look at some numbers, shall we?
BA On-base Slugging 2B 3B HR RBI
McCann .310 .383 .573 22 1 13 42 Soto .283 .368 .517 19 1 11 42
The power numbers are awfully comparable but as far as reaching base, McCann has the clear edge. Kinda make you say hm?
And some tidbits: When Jair Jurrjens pitched 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball at Coors Field on Monday night, he became only the third rookie to shut out the Rockies at Coors Field through seven innings, according to Elias. He joins Florida’s Ricky Nolasco in 2006 and Philadelphia’s Matt Beech in 1997. Beech had to be especially impressive. No humidor in ‘97.
The Damian Moss reclamation project took a nice turn Monday in Richmond. The Aussie left-hander threw 6 1/3 shutout innings to take the win, allowing five hits and two walks, while striking out four. He’s 3-5 with a 4.25 ERA overall.
In case you hadn’t heard, Jason Heyward apparently hit a bomb of a homer in the Sally League All-Star game last night. Any and all incoming details welcome.
More from the lovely ballpark at Arlington in a while.
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Braves on good ride in land of Cowboys, Rangers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s a new day, a new blog, and I’m cruising at 33,000 feet today instead of 34,000. You figure the Braves are flying pretty high themselves. After three wins in their last four games — and on the road — I dare say their charter flight into Dallas last night was a good one.
As Brian McCann said at the end of the 7-1 win last night in Denver “That was a good day off.” Yep, if you’re going to have to fly to a city for a one-game makeup on one of your only four scheduled off days of the month, might as well make it work for you.
So now the Braves see if they can carry over the great work of their starting staff - all five had quality starts this last time through the rotation - into Texas. Tim Hudson was waiting for the team in Dallas last night and should be rested, hopefully well-hydrated, and ready to go.
The Braves also aim to keep some of those clutch hits coming — something that started with some good work by the bottom-third of the rotation in Anaheim, and got going last night with some key hits at key times by Chipper Jones and yes, Frenchy Francoeur.
Then there was Brandon Jones, who at one point forced me to do a double-take at the scoreboard last night. The Braves have two Joneses in the lineup hitting .400.
Chipper is at .403, yes with a quite a few more at-bats, yes, but B. Jones is making quite an impression himself. He’s hitting .471 in his first five games since his call-up from Richmond. He has a four-game hitting streak, including three multi-hit games in those four, and hit his first major league home run.
Most interesting to watch in this Texas series will be how Mark Teixeira reacts to everything he’ll be dealing with, from fan reaction to media attention to Rangers pitchers buckling down against him. He said yesterday when I asked about fan reaction, “If they boo me, so be it.”
You get the idea the guy has learned how to separate what’s important and what’s not and has thick enough skin to get him through three games here. But we shall see.
“I’m not an emotional guy,” Teixeira said. “With my family, yeah, I’m emotional. Baseball, this is my job; this is a business. I work hard at it. If I play well, great. If I don’t, I’m not going to kill myself.”
He had a fairly brutal night at the plate last night, putting up the golden sombrero. It was only the fourth time in his career he had four or more strikeouts. I know he didn’t like umpire Adrian Johnson’s strike zone or the called strike three in his first at-bat. The second at-bat, he struck out swinging, probably because he figured he’d better hack or it’d be an out anyway. And things were out of whack from there.
But something tells me he’ll find a way to lock in this series. He hasn’t seemed to back down from the idea of playing there. He’s happy to be sleeping in his own bed — he makes his permanent home in Westlake — and he’s hit .302 for his career at Rangers Stadium.
“I love playing in that park,” Tex said. “I had five great years at that park. There will probably be a little extra energy in there.”
Given how much attention will be given to The trade for the next three days, I’d thought I’d give a little overview on what’s going on with each of the seven pieces of the deadline deal that brought Tex and Ron Mahay to Atlanta for Jarrod Saltalamacchia and four minor league prospects.
Here goes. And if you guys know of or find out more, feel free to chip in with whatever info you got.
TEX: We know. After driving in 56 runs in 54 games last year with the Braves, he got off to one of his traditionally slow starts. He hit only four home runs in the first six weeks of the season but has come around of late to make that 10 on the season. He’s leading the Braves in RBIs with 49 and has given Chipper the kind or protection that’s allowed him to carry a .400 average for 10 weeks.
RON MAHAY: He became a free agent at the end of last season and given what the left-hander would command on the market, the Braves watched him walk. Mahay signed a two-year $8 million deal with the Royals, where he’s playing for a last-place team, but doing well. He’s 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA in 28 appearances.
JARROD SALTALAMACCHIA: He was blocked by Brian McCann at catcher in Atlanta and got traded to a team that has him blocked in a way, too. After failing to make the team out of spring training this year, he’s now sharing time with Gerald Laird behind the plate.
The Rangers tried Salty at first base and DH some last season but decided it would be catching only for him this year. Salty has hit only .244 (21-for-86) with three homers and 14 RBIs in 25 games. Where he’s struggled the most is throwing — 22 of 24 baserunners have stolen bases on him, including 21 straight.
ELVIS ANDRUS: The Braves former No. 2 prospect and participant in last summer’s Futures Game is hitting .266 for Class AA Frisco in the Texas League. He has a .326 on-base percentage in 52 games has stolen 23 bases. The Venezuelan shortstop turns 20 in August.
MATT HARRISON: The former Braves’ third round pick was promoted to Class AAA Oklahoma earlier this month where he has gone 1-1 with a 4.74 ERA in three starts. He had gone 3-2 with a 3.33 ERA in nine starts for AA Frisco. He’s allowed two homers in 19 innings in AAA after allowing only three in 46 innings in AA and his batting average against has climbed from .263 to .307.
NEFTALI FELIZ: The 20-year-old Dominican right-hander is burning it up for the Class A Clinton LumberKings of the Midwest League. (Love the nickname). He’s 5-2 with a 2.24 ERA in 14 starts. He’s struck out 83 and walked 24 in 68-1/3 innings, while allowing only one homer.
BEAU JONES: The left-hander is 1-3 with a 4.10 ERA in seven outings for the high A Bakersfield Blaze of the California League (gotta love that nickname too). He’s got a 1.17 ERA in three relief appearances (1 ER in 7 2/3 IP) and he’s 1-3 with a 5.30 ERA in four starts.
OK, I’ve been guzzling down some Sierra Mist on the plane and dreading the Texas heat that awaits below. But I gotta love it anyway. The Big D just happens to be where I was born. Parkland Hospital. Yes that’s where JFK was taken after he got shot. A hospital that specializes in trauma and me being born. Hm.
I’m finishing this up from ground level, after my laptop battery ran out with about an hour to go, and an hour delay because of storms here. It’s not raining now and it’s clearly cooled off quite a bit. My rental car temp said it was in the 80s. That’d be nice, but I can’t imagine that it’s going to stay that way for long.
As we were coming in I got a nice glimpse of the Rangers Ballpark. Been there once before to chase down John Rocker when he was with the Rangers a few years back. This time in, I was curious to get the overhead glimpse of the new Texas Stadium going up next door. I’m assuming we’re still calling it that. I was happy to see there’s going to be a hole in the roof still - though this one retractable I think. So God can still watch the Cowboys play (Yes, I can’t help it, the Cowboys are in my blood.)
Guess God watches quite a bit of baseball, eh? OK, I’ll stop it. And get over to the ballpark and see what’s going down.
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On rocky trip to the Rockies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Talk about re-emergence. A couple of days ago I had my toes in the sand at Holden Beach, N.C. At the moment, my toes are probably swelling, as I’m flying at an altitude of 34,000 feet cross-country, still trying to shake the cobwebs from a 5:30 a.m. wakeup call.
What’s that you say? Should have flown out to Denver yesterday? And cut my vacation short by a day? Pshaw! It’s back to the beat, punchy style. And how else should you cover a one-game snow makeup anyway?
I’ll blame the altitude.
We’re off to Denver, where a lot has happened since the Braves last journeyed out here in early April, lost three in a row, planted the seed that the road was going to be trouble this season, and made some snow angels.
Yes, Chipper Jones’ quad is still sore — more on that in a second — but at least Jones is in the lineup. Troy Tulowitzki has been on the disabled list since May 3 with a left quad tendon tear. He’s on a rehab assignment now, but it hasn’t been pretty for the Rockies since he left. They fell to 18 games under .500 by losing eight games in a row through June 2. They sunk to the bottom of the NL West and at 28-41 (.406) have only two teams with a worse record — Kansas City is 28-42 (.400) and Seattle is 24-45 (.348).
That might be a little deceiving though. The Rockies have won seven of their last 10. So who knows which team has the edge tonight. It’s a one-gamer. Stuff won’t have time to even out.
And yes, this road trip is so long that we’re switching beat writers in the middle. I’m here to chase down ballplayers for the final four games, tonight in Denver and three games in Texas.
So the Braves are 2-4 so far on this trip but coming off a series win over the Angels. Looking for silver linings ahead, there’s always Seattle. If you include next weekend’s home series against the Mariners, the Braves play four of their next seven games against teams with two of the worst records in baseball.
As promised, more on Chipper and the quad. Not that it seems to be bothering him much at the plate, but now it looks like his sitting those two games with a sore quad seems to be a bench mark of sorts. He’s 2-for-15 since then and has watched his batting average “plummet” from .420 to .402.
When you think about it, he’s had two hits in his last five games (four starts) and he’s still above .400. That’s something.
But after 10 weeks of rarified air, is Chipper about to see that .400 average drift off into thin air? Is today the day?
If he goes hitless in his first two at-bats, he drops to .398. Even if he goes 1-for-4, he’s at .399. He’s 1-for-6 for his career against tonight’s starter Ubaldo Jimenez.
Of course, it’s a hitter-friendly park. That should help. For his career at Coors Field, Chipper has hit .324 (68-for-210) with 12 homers and 51 RBIs.
He brought a .423 batting average with him the last time the Braves came to Denver on April 7. After going 4-for-13 (.308) with three RBIs in the three losses, he left with his average at .385. He used a three-hit game in Washington at the end of that trip to get his average back up over .400, and he hasn’t looked back since.
But he’s hanging on for dear life now.
As for pitching, Jair Jurrjens returns to the mound tonight against the Rockies after missing his last start after he tripped on the dugout steps in Wrigley. As much as that hurt that Braves that night — Jeff Bennett got beat around pretty good in a spot start — maybe it helps a bit in the long run.
You’d like to think that extra time off helped Jurrjens’ blister heal some. Plus it gave him a few days to catch his breath.
DOB had some great numbers in his on-deck today about Jurrjens. In his first 10 starts this year, Jurrjens was 5-3 with a 2.64 ERA and .219 opponents’ batting average. In his last three, he’s 1-0 with an 8.40 ERA and a .406 opponents batting average. .406!
Jurrjens has allowed four homers in his last three starts, after giving up only one in his first 10.
Jurrjens won’t do it - but you have to attribute some of that to the effects of the blister and the movement he’s given up on his sinker.
In other pitching news, looks like there will be no Kevin Millwood match-up in the upcoming Texas series, by the way. Actually, he’s known in my family as Millweed (after some — sorry — rednecks sitting behind us at one of his first major league starts said “Who the heck is Millweed?”). He pitched in Sunday’s doubleheader against the Mets and won to move to 5-3 with a 4.75 ERA. So his rotation spot won’t come up again until Friday.
After watching Jorge Campillo give up two runs in an eight-inning complete game last night, and deserving better than a loss, I decided to dig up some quotes I’d gotten from Corky Miller a couple of weeks ago about what makes Campillo so effective. Those of you who’d rather bash Corky can skip it, but I found it insightful. Here’s a little of what he had to say about catching Campillo.
“He doesn’t really throw the same pitch too many times to the same guy — whether it be, same location or different speeds,” Miller said. “And he knows how to get guys out. He’s been around. And he goes with what works for him, not necessarily the hitters and what they’re trying to do. He pitches to what he wants to throw and what he can best locate.”
What makes him able to do that, Miller points out, is how well he locates.
“When you can’t spot the ball, you’ve got to go with what’s the hitters weakness against your strength,” Miller said. “He just always goes with his strength because he can put the ball pretty much where he wants to. It makes it easier for me when I’ve got to catch him. I don’t really have to worry about the tendencies of the hitters or what they like because he’s going to pitch where his strengths are and 90 percent of the time hit his spots.”
And this, from the Notes Group last week, when Greg Maddux was asked about Tom Glavine’s sore elbow, which landed him on the DL for the second time this year and only second time of his career.
“Knowing him, he probably should have gone on the DL two weeks ago,” Maddux said. “He’s tough, and no one knows how to pitch better when he’s hurt than that guy.”
Off to hoof it to Coors Field. Gotta love LoDo. Wouldn’t it be great to have something like that in Atlanta? Oh to dream.
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Win brings K. Johnson some relief
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Anaheim, Calif. — The second-funniest thing that happened yesterday — No. 1 was Bowman dodging rush-hour traffic trying to hail a taxi in the middle of the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago after our first cab got us in a wreck — happened when I approached Kelly Johnson after last night’s win in Anaheim.
“I’m finally off the hook,” he said, smiling as he ate a postgame sandwich in a clubhouse that was as noisy as a frat party when compared to the morgue atmosphere of the previous week. People were smiling, laughing, after the pins-and-needles atmosphere we felt entering the clubhouse after recent losses.
Most of you know just what Johnson was referring to — his dropped popup with two out in the ninth inning a week earlier against Philadelphia seven nights earlier, when the Braves had a game in the bag … until it squirted out of his glove.
They lost in extra innings that night, the start of an excruciating seven-day, six-game stretch in which the Braves lost six in a row, getting swept by both the Phillies at home and the Cubs on the road to fall to 7-1/2 games behind Philly in the East.
Johnson hadn’t stopped thinking of that popup since. But late last night, he could finally smile about it, since some of the mounting pressure of losing for a solid week after his error had finally been released.
“I told my wife [earlier Friday], if this [losing] goes on much longer, when we walk by fans it’s not going to be, ‘Hey, there’s Kelly Johnson, the Braves second baseman,’” he said. “It’s going to be, ‘There’s Kelly Johnson, the guy who dropped the ball and lost us the season.’”
If the Braves don’t start playing like they did last night a lot more frequently, that dropped ball might still be the moment fans point to first, fairly or not, as the point where the season was lost.
Nevermind all the injuries, all the at-bats when runners were stranded in scoring position, all the one-run losses when the depleted bullpen couldn’t hold or the Braves just couldn’t come through with a clutch hit.
No, that dropped popup is a moment that sticks out, not just because the Braves were one out from a series-opening win against the Phillies, but because they seemed to be in a daze the rest of the weekend and much of the Chicago series.
And, of course, because a dropped popup with two out in the ninth tends to stand out in the memory bank more than so-and-so failing to deliver with bases loaded with none out, or with one out, or with two outs….
But anyway, Johnson and the rest of the Braves were relieved and happy last night, for the first time in a while. They got a great pitching performance from a kid, Jo-Jo Reyes, who’s really starting to realize his potential. They got multiple hits from six different batters, including rookie Gregor Blanco (3-for-4, three RBI).
Oh, and they got great news about Chipper Jones after the scary batting-practice incident when Hoss hit a drive that caromed off the top of the batting cage and ricocheted hard straight into his face, but left him with only a contusion and perhaps a black eye when he woke this morning. He’s supposed to play tonight.
He spent most of Friday night at a nearby hospital getting checked out for possible fractures or a concussion. CT scan and X-rays were negative, and Jones’ vision checked out perfect. He showed up in the eighth or ninth inning and wanted to pinch-hit, according to Bobby Cox.
(Actually, while on this subject, did you guys know Chipper’s vision is even better than 20-20, which is what I think of as perfect, though I don’t really have a clue other than knowing my own vision is terrible and has been for most of my life. Hoss has 20-15 vision. Ted Williams reportedly had 20-15 vision.
(Not that I’m comparing Jones to The Splendid Splinter, the greatest hitter of all time, but just pointing out that it’s unusual, and both these guys have it, or had it in Ted’s case. Maybe we’ve got an optometrist among the denizens who can inform us as to whether it’s as rare as I’m guessing it has to be for guys in their mid-30s to have perfect, uncorrected vision.)
Anyway, for those wondering, the six-game skid wasn’t even close to the Braves’ worst in recent years. That dubious distinction belongs to the 2006 team, which was swept in three consecutive series (at Florida, and home vs. Boston and Toronto) during a 10-game skid that was part of a horrendous 2-18 stretch from June 1 to June 21, dropping their record from 28-25 to 30-43.
These Braves have lost 14 of 21 since May 23, dropping them from 26-21 to 33-35.
San Diego has what its folks call June Gloom weather, the only time of the year when the climate isn’t perfect down there. The Braves have their own June Gloom lately.
It’s not too late to snap out of it, of course. But the Braves are going to have to play like they did last night a whole lot more frequently if they hope to keep the Phillies within shouting distance, because them boys from Philly are rollin’. And rakin’.
The Braves since April 17 are 28-26, better than everyone in the division except Philly during that stretch, including the Marlins (27-26).
But it’s not nearly as good as the Phillies (34-20) during that stretch, and lately the two have really gone in opposite directions. The Phillies are 14-6 since May 25, with a 27 homers and a 3.29 team ERA in that stretch.
The defending division champs (Phils) have a strong team, period. These are not the underperforming Phils of old. And Cole Hamels is even better than I anticipated.
Braves have got work to do, and not many people believe they can do it, for obvious reasons. I know if asked today, I’d say without question it’s Philly’s race to lose now. They’ve done what they needed to do to put themselves in the driver’s seat.
But it’s still a couple of weeks from the midway point. Lot of ‘ball to go. Mets probably aren’t going to fold their tent. Marlins are plucky, though I don’t think they have the starting pitching to stay in this much past the break.
And the Braves? We’ll see. Like I said, they’ve got a lot work to do.
”VENTURA” by Lucinda Williams
I think I’m gonna make myself a little something to eat,
Get a can down off the shelf, maybe a little something sweet.
Haven’t spoke to no one, haven’t been in the mood,
Pour some soup, get a spoon, stir it up real good.
Go out with a friend, they know the music might help,
But I can’t pretend — I wish I was somewhere else.
I wanna watch the ocean bend,
The edges of the sun, then
I wanna get swallowed up
In an ocean of love.
Put on my coat, go out into the street,
Get a lump in my throat, and look down at my feet.
Take the long way home, so I can ride around,
Put Neil Young on and turn up the sound.
Drive up the coastline, maybe to Ventura,
Watch the waves make signs out on the water.
I wanna watch the ocean bend,
The edges of the sun, then
I wanna get swallowed up
In an ocean of love.
Stand in the shower, clean this dirty mess,
Give me back my power, and drown this unholyness.
Lean over the toilet bowl, and throw up my confession,
Clense my soul, of this hidden obsession.
I wanna watch the ocean bend,
The edges of the sun, then
I wanna get swallowed up
In an ocean of love.
I wanna watch the ocean bend,
The edges of the sun, then
I wanna get swallowed up
In an ocean of love.
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Braves need to play like 1948
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chicago _ On another windy day from Wrigley Field, where the Braves and Cubs are wearing 1948-era uniforms for this series finale and the Braves would like to play like that 1948 pennant-winning team, we say to all the denizens in Braves/MIB blogland: Hello again, everybody.
(Had to steal a phrase and pay homage to my man Skip Caray, son of Chicago broadcasting legend Harry Caray, who, during my first years on this beat, was still doing his thing and singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” behind the glass wall in the radio booth 20 feet to the left of where I’m sitting right now.)
Anyway, should be a good game today, with Tim Hudson and the Braves facing Carlos Zambrano and the surging Cubs, who’ve won 13 of their past 16 games and have a 10-game home winning streak.
Couple of loose ends before we get started here in this 1:20 p.m. Central Time game.
— Tom Glavine: Not sure when we’re going to hear the report on today’s MRI on his troublesome left elbow. He’s having it done back in Atlanta and I’d guess we’ll get the results sometime today before the Braves board their charter flight to Anaheim, but I just don’t know for sure.
— Rafael Soriano: He was unavailable to pitch last night, Bobby Cox said this morning when we asked about Soriano’s ongoing, day-to-day elbow situation. This is not a good situation, obviously, for a team’s closer to have to tell them each day before the game whether he feels OK to pitch.
I asked Bobby in the dugout this morning if Soriano would get another MRI when the Braves get back to Atlanta after this long trip, and he replied, “He’s had every test in the world, and it’s still sore.”
— Charlie Morton: I asked Cox if the big pitching prospect would have any pitch-count restrictions in his major league debut Saturday, and Cox said no, just gonna turn him loose. Maybe someone will tell him, “Hey, kid, this is Vlad Guerrero. Don’t give him anything anywhere near the plate.”
— Jeff Bennett: Had to leave immediately after the game last night because his wife was hospitalized here in Chicago. It’s OK, she’s doing fine now. As for Bennett’s performance - seven runs, seven hits, left without an out in the third inning - he said he just made a couple of bad mistakes, including a slider over the plate to Fukudome for that three-run homer in the first inning.
Regarding the pitch that broke Alfonso Soriano’s hand, Bennett said he was trying to strike him out on an inside fastball and it just got away. He also pointed out that it shoud’ve been obvious he wasn’t trying to hit him, with the count 0-2 and two outs, and a runner at second base.
Bennett didn’t believe that the Cubs would do any retaliation work today against Braves hitters, pointing out that “they already hit Mac.” Brian McCann was hit by Dempster in the fourth inning. Dempster had otherwise great control last night, walking none in nine innings.
Soriano’s out for about six weeks, probably. Big blow for the Cubs.
Too bad - for the Braves - that he couldn’t have missed this and every other series against them in the past few years. He kills them like no other hitter: .371 with nine doubles, two triples, 14 homers and 31 RBI in 30 games against the Braves since 2005.
His .363 career average, .416 OBP and .770 slugging percentage are his second-best totals in each category, behind his numbers against Pittsburgh (.381/.433/.782).
And his replacement today is….
_ Eric Patterson: The former Harrison High and Georgia Tech standout, and brother of Corey Patterson, was recalled from Triple-A and is starting in left field and leading off today for the Cubs.
Patterson was an eighth-round pick in the 2004 draft and a 2007 Pacific League All-Star.
_ Retro uniforms: Both teams are wearing 1948 replica uniforms to honor the 60th anniversary of Cubs baseball on WGN. The ’48 Boston Braves went 93-60 and won the NL pennant before losing to Cleveland in the World Series.
Hey, I’m looking down at the Bravos stretching down the right-field line, and I gotta say I like the uni’s. Very similar to the current uniforms, except for the stirrips with the variable-width strips and the blue caps with red bills and a plain “B” instead of the familiar “A.”
And Corky Miller looks like some kind of barnstorming 40s-era player in his, with the gut and the 5 o’clock shadow and the socks and all that.
Cubs uniforms are clean, man. Sweeeet. White uniforms, no stripes, pin or otherwise. Only stripes are the red ones on their navy-blue socks.
Also, the hundreds of the stadium employees are wearing white straw hats, and they even passed out faux black fedoras (made of cardboard or something) with a press pass stuck in the band. It’s a good look for me. Think I’ll wear it instead of the Stone Mountain Harley Davidson cap I brought to the park.
_ Zambrano is unbeaten at Wrigley Field this year (4-0, 2.38 ERA in eight starts). So was last night’s starter Ryan Dempster, who still is after pitching a four-hitter with 11 strikeouts. Dempster’s 8-0 in nine home starts, and hasn’t won on the road.
This place has always been in my top three ballparks to visit, but the atmosphere has never been quite as electric as it is now. By that I mean, they’ve had sellout crowds on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to start this series, and I didn’t see any unused seats in the ballpark. Most of the rooftop seats on surrounding apartment buildings have also been filled for the first two games.
The Cubs have the best record and best home record in baseball, and they’ve got a talented team that’s thriving in this environment.
OK, let’s play some ‘ball. The Braves, in case you’ve missed it, could really use a win.
Uh, that’s my understatement of the day.
Folks, the Braves desperately need a win, to avert a second consecutive series sweep and so that no one is tempted to jump from the plane after a few cocktails during the four-hour flight to California later today.
Sixteen losses in their last 19 road games, including eight of nine … astonishing. Awful.
And do you realize that Chipper Jones (.370) is the only Braves regular hitting over .260 on the road? They have six regulars hitting .308 or higher at Turner Field.
”EVERYBODY HURTS” by R.E.M.
When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
When you’re sure you’ve had enough of this life, well hang on
Don’t let yourself go, ‘cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it’s time to sing along
When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go, (hold on)
When you think you’ve had too much of this life, well hang on
‘Cause everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts. Don’t throw your hand. Oh, no. Don’t throw your hand
If you feel like you’re alone, no, no, no, you are not alone
If you’re on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,
When you think you’ve had too much of this life to hang on
Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts. You are not alone
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Next for Braves: Swarm of locusts?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chicago _ Seriously, it might be time to consider keeping Tim Hudson in a protective bubble before his start Thursday against the Cubs. Because either the Braves have been cursed or injuries have suddenly become contagious.
How else to possibly explain how tonight’s scheduled (and now scratched) starter Jair Jurrjens could sprain an ankle walking down the dugout steps following a 10-5 loss last night, less than two hours after Tom Glavine left the game with an elbow injury that will be examined Thursday in Atlanta, and some six hours after John Smoltz had season-ending, career-threatening shoulder surgery?
Chipper Jones said last year that the baseball gods must have finally turned on the Braves after their 14-year division-title run. I thought Hoss was either joking or overly superstitious, but now I’m not so sure.
This has gone beyond ridiculous.
It’s one thing for your 40-something pitchers (Smoltz and Glavine) to have injuries, even if Glavine had never been on the DL before making two trips there in the first 10 weeks of this season. And it’s not so shocking that closer Rafael Soriano would have elbow problems, since he had Tommy John surgery a few years ago and had elbow problems all spring.
(The Braves’ decision to give him a two-year contract in January that includes a $6.1 mill salary in 2009 … that’s not looking particularly good about now. Those who second-guessed that move when the Braves did it, take a bow. You were right — for now, at least. But if Soriano pitches well and closes games the rest of the season he’ll still be a relative bargain as a $6.1 mill closer in this market.)
But it’s quite another when the Braves lose Peter Moylan, their Mr. Durable in 2008, to season-ending elbow injury in the first month of this season. And this whole thing has been ramped up to cruel-and-unusual punishment for the Braves and new GM Frank Wren with this Jurrjens injury.
I mean, seriously.
What next for these Braves? A swarm of locusts?
This is quickly becoming a season that may live in Braves infamy. The year they broke camp with a team that most experts considered to be a serious division-title contender, and a few notable media observers picked to win the World Series (hey, at least I didn’t pick them to go that far, like some of the boys at ESPN did).
Instead they have been a team that can’t stay healthy, rarely gets clutch hits, can’t win one-run games (3-17, worst in the majors) and can’t win on the road (7-22, worst in the majors).
Lately they haven’t even been very good at home, where they were swept over the weekend by Philadelphia. The Braves have lost 12 of their past 18 games after a 21-12 surge that had put them back in the thick of the NL East race.
They’ve lost a mind-numbing 15 of their past 18 road games, and have nine games left on this 10-game trip that couldn’t have possibly started out much worse than it did yesterday on Tuesday, Bloody Tuesday.
The Braves have called up outfield prospect Brandon Jones to take Glavine’s roster spot for the time being, and are going to bring up top pitching prospect Charlie Morton to start Saturday at Anaheim, with Jorge Campillo moving back a day to take Glavine’s place Sunday.
Braves said they wanted Campillo to be able to pitch an inning if needed tonight, but I also think it probably had something to do with them not wanting Morton to make his debut on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.
While I’m happy for Charlie and for Braves fans who are so excited to see him pitch after his outstanding Fall League season and performance this year so far at Richmond, it’ll be almost impossible for him to live up to unreasonable expectations some have for a kid who’ll be making his big-league debut.
He’s not the answer for the Braves if they’re going to turn this thing around. Morton might be able to help, sure. But the Braves have got to get a lot more contributions from the Jeff Francoeur and the rest of their outfield.
They’ve got to get healthy. Soriano has got to be able to pitch when called upon, or it’s a black hole at the closer position. Can’t expect Mike Gonzalez just to slip back into the bullpen in a week or two and take over as closer. No way. It’ll take a while for him to get sharp and dominant, maybe not until next season.
I’m in agreement with most denizens of the Braves/MIB blog that, if this season is to be saved, Wren is going to have to make some moves - not on July 31, but starting now.
Braves need to get at least one starting pitcher, whether it’s someone young they can control for years to come, or a stop-gap guy like, yes, Greg Maddux (even though I’ve pointed out he’s not the innings-eater he was, Mad Dog is at least very reliable for the 5,6 or 7 innings he’s been pitching this season).
Hey, then maybe they can add Freddy Garia when the free agent, recovering from shoulder surgery, is ready to pitch sometime around the All-Star break. That wouldn’t cost the Braves anything in return, just money to sign him.
They’ve got to find another reliever or two, whether that’s on the trade market or someone from within the organization. Maybe Phil Stockman is ready to handle a bigger role - they’ve at least got to give him a try, because Manny Acosta and Blaine Boyer are showing signs of all the early-season work.
Acosta, right now, seems a mess mentally, at least to me. He’s given up 11 hits, four homers and 12 runs (eight earned) in 4-1/3 innings over six appearances since May 31, a .500 opponents’ average in that stretch.
That after posting a 1.30 ERA and .198 opponents’ average over his previoius 25 appearances.
His fielding error last night was the second crucial error Acosta has made, the other in his memorable game in Washington when Cox left him in to pitch a third inning even after his turn to bat came up in a crucial situation.
Maybe hard-throwing Jeff Ridgway is ready for a callup. He looked great, at times, during spring training. Hey, I’m just thinking aloud.
Desperate times call for desperate measure. Do something. Soon. Now. Yesterday. For the sanity and overall well-being of Braves Nation.
Oh, and as much as I like Francoeur as a person and his potential as a player, it’s time to drop him to the bottom of the batting order and to bench him a game or three. He’s struggled mightily, not helping the Braves whatsoever at the plate in nine out of 10 games he’s out there lately.
He’s hit .242 with four homers, a .299 OBP and seven double plays grounded into in his past 53 games, and has one homer and seven RBIs in 23 road games in that stretch.
Don’t know what the answers are to several of the outfield woes. Getting Mark Kotsay healthy will be a start, but that’s probably two weeks off.
Francoeur’s going to have to keep playing most of the time, unless they can make a move for another bat soon. Gregor Blanco is second-to-last in the NL in hitting with runners in scoring position at .132 (5-for-38), ahead of only an injured guy with the Dodgers named Andruw Jones (.030, 1-for-33).
How’s this for a stat: Braves rank third in the NL with a .277 average with the bases loaded. How is this possible, you might be asking yourself.
Like you, I seem to remember so many wasted opportunities in those situations. Turns out, the Braves are actually pretty solid with runners in scoring position if you take out Frenchy’s numbers (2-for-16. Oy.)
Unfortunately for the Braves, he has as many at-bats with bases loaded as any other three Braves combined. All the more reason to drop him in the order. Too many wasted chances batting fifth or sixth (not to mentioned third).
The rest of the Braves are 16-for-49 (.327) with bases loaded, and that’s despite 0-for-4’s by both Kotsay and Yunel Escobar.
OK, outta time. Gotta get to the ballpark to see if anyone got hurt en route to Wrigley or while having lunch.
“OLD MAN” by Neil Young
Old man look at my life,
I’m a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I’m a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
Twenty four
and there’s so much more
Live alone in a paradise
That makes me think of two.
Love lost, such a cost,
Give me things
that don’t get lost.
Like a coin that won’t get tossed
Rolling home to you.
Old man take a look at my life
I’m a lot like you
I need someone to love me
the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
and you can tell that’s true.
Lullabies, look in your eyes,
Run around the same old town.
Doesn’t mean that much to me
To mean that much to you.
I’ve been first and last
Look at how the time goes past.
But I’m all alone at last.
Rolling home to you.
Old man take a look at my life
I’m a lot like you
I need someone to love me
the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
and you can tell that’s true.
Old man look at my life,
I’m a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I’m a lot like you were.
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Braves begin make-or-break trip
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chicago _ Greetings from Chicago, where it’s a welcome 72 degrees (headed for a high near 80), and the locals are talking much baseball, while also wondering what the hell Da Bulls were thinking yesterday when they hired Vinny Del Negro as coach despite absolutely zero coaching experience.
But when it comes to ‘ball, they’re setting up for a helluva summer here in the Windy City, where the Bravos are here to take on the Cubs, who not only lead the NL Central but have the best home record (26-8) in the National League, but also have the best overall record in the majors.
Yes, I had to look at the standings here in my copy of the Chicago Tribune twice to make sure I was reading correctly. The freakin’ Cubs are 40-24, a better mark than Boston Red Sox (40-26).
So you’ve got the North Side Cubs, winners of eight consecutive home games, and the South Side White Sox, who’ve reeled off seven straight wins since the slightly (and delightfully) unhinged Ozzie Guillen called out, well, everyone from his GM to his players.
Team Ozzfest leads the AL Central by 6-1/2 games over Minnesota, while preseason favorite Detroit wallows in fourth place at 26-37.
Oh, did I mention how the baseball gods have apparently decided to turn the sport upside down this season and shake it until all the change falls out of its pockets?
Seattle, another popular preseason favorite out in the AL West, is a pathetic 23-41 and just fired hitting coach Jeff Pentland and replaced him with Lee Elia, who’s about to turn 71.
Are you serious? But hey, if it means we get to hear Elia’s famous tirade a few more times, the all-time rant from years ago when he was Cubs manager, then good hire, M’s decision-makers. Thank you.
Perennial doormat Tampa Bay is 37-26, the same number of losses as the NL East-leading Phillies. Meanwhile the reigning NL pennant winners, the Colorado Rockies, are in last place in the mediocre NL West, at 24-39, including 10-24 on the road.
The Yankees? Have we finally gotten a reprieve from the tiresome, dated references to “The Yankees would do this” or “the Yankees would hold him accountable.” When the Yankees win another World Series, those proclamations might carry a little weight again.
For now, they are a .500 team, in the same boat as … yes, the Bravos.
Oh, you didn’t think I’d grown tired of discussing the Braves, did you? Hey, this is the Braves/MIB blog, after all. And we are embarking on another road trip in which the newspaper spends plenty of money to cover the exploits of the team once known as America’s Team (hey, TBS would rather play the Bill Engvall Show. Folks, am I missing something there? I mean, really. If I had kids, would I “get it?” Because I sure don’t _ get it, that is.)
Anyway … the Braves.
Oh, it’s ugly. It’s amazing how one three-game weekend series can cast such a pall over a team, isn’t it? I know, I know, many of you already believed the Braves were done before the Phillies came to town.
I did not. At all. In fact, I still don’t think they’re done. But that weekend sweep at the hands of the Phils, that put the first shovel of dirt on the Braves, in my estimation.
Because if the Braves had just won two of three — not an unreasonable proposal entering the series, considering the pitching matchups and the Braves’ home success, etc. — they’d be 2-1/2 games out of first place today, 98 games to go.
I dare say there’d be an entirely different tone amongst the bulk of bloggers here today if the Braves were coming off a series win against the division winners, and had a mere 3-1/2-game deficit to make up with nearly 100 games to go.
But they didn’t.
They blew it. They dropped a popup (oh, that hurt, Kelly Johnson). They failed time and time again with bases juiced or with two on, frequently with less than two outs (oh, Jeff Francoeur, how you have frustrated the masses).
They came apart at the seams late in games (oh, Manny Acosta and Blaine Boyer and Royce Ring, you young fellas are showing the effects of that heavy early season workload, aren’t you?).
People, many of us marveled at how the Braves were able to stay in the race during April and May despite putting a key player on the DL about once every two or three days. It was remarkable to see them lost their best two relievers, Rafael Soriano and Peter Moylan, for most of April and May (and Moylan for the rest of the season), and still keep putting up such solid bullpen work.
But the injuries have caught up with them. Those overused relievers are starting to crack, and the Braves can only hope most or all of them get through a period of struggling and come out the other side healthy and performing well again.
Because if they don’t … well, you’ve seen what happens. Philly exploited that. Tight strike zones and tired young relievers are not a good combo for the Bravos.
Bigger problem: Soriano’s elbow. You can’t have your closer needing to warm up each day to determine if he feels ready to enter the game, especially when said reliever isn’t the greatest communicator on the planet. His scowl and man-of-few-words demeanor is perfect when he’s healthy and dealin’.
But not when he’s trying to pitch with elbow problems.
If this keeps up, the Braves might eventually have to consider moving Jorge Campillo back to the bullpen, as good as he’s been as a starter. I say that because the move would make sense if the Braves believe Charlie Morton is ready to pitch in the majors, which I am told they do believe.
He’s dominated hitters in most of his starts at Richmond. So much so that, hey, perhaps the Braves would even consider bringing him up to pitch out of the bullpen. Since they’re obviously not going to add John Smoltz to the bullpen (season-ending surgery this afternoon in Birmingham) and since Soriano’s return has been problematic, the Braves might want to consider putting Morton’s nasty stuff out in the bullpen.
The list is long, very long, of starting pitchers who’ve done bullpen work early in their major league careers. If it helps your major league team, if it might make a difference in a season that’s threatening to spiral downward, then you have to at least strongly consider the move.
Chipper’s absence: The Braves hope they won’t have to go much of this 10-game trip without the services of the major league batting leader, that’s for sure.
We’ll know more late this afternoon about how Chipper is feeling, whether it looks like he might get in there during this series. But the Braves should be cautious, and will be, given that they have absolutely no chance of staying in the postseason race if Chipper Jones is out for an extended period.
If it takes a few days to heal that quadriceps, then it takes a few days. Or more. But to have him play before it’s ready, then possibly tear it severely _ that’s not worth the risk.
A few numbers from a story I wrote about the NL’s Player of the Week: Since April 12, Jones has hit .432 with 14 homers, 32 RBIs, 36 walks and a .541 OBP in 48 games. The Braves were 28-20 in that stretch when he was in the lineup, and 0-6 when he was not.
Last year in early June he was on the DL for bone bruises in his hands, and Jones hasn’t been disabled since (did I curse him when I mentioned that Saturday?) He returned from that DL stint on June 13, 2007, and since then he’s hit .379 in 150 games with 75 extra-base hits (32 homers), 116 RBIs, 119 runs and a .464 on-base percentage.
Repeat, .379 in 150 games. Dude is on another level than anyone else in that span.
The Braves are 80-70 in games he’s played in that stretch, and 1-10 in games he has not.
Jones was told by the Braves doctor that he might be able to play by Thursday or Friday. The interleague games at Anaheim and Texas will present a DH option, if the Braves think that might reduce the likelihood of further injury.
As a designated hitter, Jones has a .324 career average (23-for-71) with six homers and 11 RBIs.
If he’s got to miss any games, Wrigley’s a good place to sit. Jones has hit .201 with 11 extra-base hits in 45 games at The Friendly Confines, where he’s posted a lower average and slugging percentage (.373) than at any of the other 27 ballparks where he’s played 10 or more games.
Ohman to hear it? It’ll be interesting to hear the reception for lefty Will Ohman, who’s been the Braves’ best relief pitcher this season. By some accounts, he wore out his welcome with the Cubs, who traded him to Atlanta along with Omar Infante for reliever Jose Ascanio at the December Winter Meetings in Nashvegas (my legs hurt just thinking about walking around that Opryland Hotel).
Ohman’s been a rubber-armed godsend for the Braves, with a 2.28 ERA in a whopping 35 appearances, including 24 appearances in the last 44 team games since April 23.
How’s this for a mind-blowing stat: Ohman has a 6.63 ERA in 101 career appearances at Wrigley Field, but a 2.31 ERA in 154 appearances everywhere else.
Best matchup in this series: Is Jair Jurrjens against Cubs right-hander Ryan Dempster (7-2, 2.90 ERA) on Wednesday. I’ve known Dempster since he was a rookie called up a little too soon after the first Marlins payroll purge.
Great dude. Been through arm surgery, spent time with Cincinnati, went from starter to closer and back to starter, etc. Great guy, very funny.
But none of that probably matters to any of you. I was just thinking aloud.
No, the reason the matchup is so good, besides just those two pitchers’ records, is this fact: Dempster is 1-10 with a 5.65 ERA in 24 games (13 starts) against the Braves. Yes, 1-10.
How does that happen? It’s like Livan Hernandez’s terrible record against the Braves (when he’s not facing them in the postseason, that is). There’s no real explanation.
And if I know Dempster, he’s probably looking at it like, “I’m due to reel off about seven straight wins against the Braves.”
Alfonso Soriano, your arch nemesis: Nevermind Shawn Green, Carlos Delgado or even Tony Clark. They all have been hell on the Braves, but not quite like Alfonso Soriano has been for the past three seasons.
The Cubs (and former Rangers and Nationals) slugger has a .367 average with a ridiclous 14 homers in 28 games against the Braves since 2005.
Just read these numbers slowly: Nine doubles, two triples, 14 homers, 31 RBIs and an .825 slugging percentage in those 28 games against the Braves.
That includes two three-homer games and a two-homer game.
Think the Braves might want to pitch around him? I think I would even to start the game.
Oh, by the way, in his last 14 games at Wrigley Field, Soriano has hit .426 with nine homers and 23 RBIs.
Yes, I know I’d pitch him very, very carefully _ even in the first inning.
Frenchy, yikes: Jeff Francoeur has hit .243 with four homers, 25 RBIs and a .301 OBP in 52 game after his two-homer, seven RBI game at D.C. on April 12. And on the road in that stretch, it’s .250 with one homer and seven RBI in 22 games. Yes, he had twice as many homers and the same number of RBI in one game April 12 as he’s had in 22 road games since.
OK, diversions: Got the new My Morning Jacket album Evil Urges, and it’s brilliant. A mesh of styles, even a couple of songs that sound like Prince, right down to the falsetto. But it’s another masterful album from the boys from Kentucky. Also, if you’re a John Hiatt fan, I’d highly recommend (again) his new one, which is finally out. It’s called Same Old Man. Oh, and the just-released third of Joseph Arthur’s four planned 2008 releases is strong, just like the first two. Talk about a prolific artist.
Here’s a great song by The National, off their Boxer album.
“MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS” by The National
You have to do it running but you do everything that they ask you to
cause you don’t mind seeing yourself in a picture
as long as you look faraway, as long as you look removed
showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
oh you wouldn’t want an angel watching over
surprise, surprise they wouldn’t wannna watch
another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults
Make up something to believe in your heart of hearts
so you have something to wear on your sleeve of sleeves
so you swear you just saw a feathery woman
carry a blindfolded man through the trees
showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
oh you wouldn’t want an angel watching over
surprise, surprise they wouldn’t wannna watch
another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
oh you wouldn’t want an angel watching over
surprise, surprise they wouldn’t wannna watch
another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults
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Chipper out of lineup
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Good Sunday morning, denizens. The news is not so great from the clubhouse. Chipper Jones is out of the lineup today with a strained groin and it might be a few days before he and his majors-leading .420 batting average will get back in.
The Braves are 0-5 this season without Jones in the lineup this season, and they’ll have to try to break that trend if they want to salvage a win out of this Phillies series today.
Jones aggravated the right quadriceps legging out a groundout in the seventh inning of Saturday night’s loss to the Phillies. Doctors told him afterward he had a slight tear in his right quadriceps muscle.
“Doc Royster said I had a small tear in my quad,” Jones said Sunday morning. “I guess you could call it a strain, but whenever you’ve got a small tear and there’s bleeding in there, it is what it is. It’s sore. I asked Doc timetable last night and he said ‘You’re definitely not playing tomorrow, then there’s the off day. I’d think you could probably miss a day or two in Chicago and see how it feels.’”
The off day Monday comes at a good time, yes. But to have the Braves heading on a four-city road trip after that is terrible timing. The Braves go back out on the road - where they have been a miserable 7-21 - for a Chicago-Anaheim-Denver-Texas jaunt, and they’ve got to at least start it without Jones in the lineup.
Jones first strained the quadriceps in early April playing in the cold weather of Colorado. He said it’s been a little sore ever since.
Jones had missed four games due to injury this year - three with back spasms and one with a groin strain. He got one other day off on Wednesday simply to rest. But the 36-year-old had managed to avoid much of the injury bugaboo that’s plagued him the last few years.
But now he becomes yet another injury issue in a clubhouse plagued by them seemingly every day.
“Nothing surprises me in this clubhouse anymore,” Jones said. “It’s another bad blow.”
Today’s lineup is turned upside down as Bobby Cox is trying to make do without Jones or catcher Brian McCann in there.
“Mac has got to have two days here,” Cox said meaning Sunday and the off day Monday. “His knee his bothering him and his ankle is there and it’s hot as (you know what.)”
It’s going to be a scorcher here with the temps in the 90s and a 1:35 p.m. start.
So here’s the lineup sans Chipper or McCann: Josh Anderson LF Gregor Blanco CF Yunel Escobar SS Mark Teixeira 1B Kelly Johnson 2B Jeff Francoeur RF Omar Infante 3B Corky Miller C Jorge Campillo P
As for Rafael Soriano, he is not available today. The Braves are hoping a couple of days without throwing will help his elbow calm down, after Soriano left them in a fix on Friday night. He warmed up for the ninth inning but when it came time to enter the game, he told bullpen coach Eddie Perez he couldn’t go because of his elbow.
“I won’t use him today,” Cox said. “We’ll give him today. Then there will be the off day. And we’ll see when we open up with Chicago.”
Other than that, it’s just a quiet Sunday morning at the ballpark….
Maybe this is a backwards way to get a lineup shake-up, but maybe it’ll turn some things around. Josh Anderson is hungry and he’s batting leadoff for the first time. Getting his and Gregor Blanco’s speed at No. 1 and 2 could do some things for Escobar, who is hitting third.
We shall see.
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Ho-hum, Hoss belts 400th while hitting over .400
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ho-hum, Thursday was another four-hit day at the office for Chipper Jones, who punctuated the work day with his 400th home run, jointing Eddie Murray and some dude named Mickey Mantle as the only switch-hitters to accomplish that feat.
And while Murray (504 homers) and the Mick (536) are still a long way ahead of Hoss in the homer department, I’m no longer of the belief he can’t catch them. Well, at least Murray.
(Trivia note: Did you know Murray also hit his 400th in Atlanta? Off Marvin Freeman in 1992. OK, back to the blog…)
Or don’t you folks agree that Chipper could realistically hit at least 105 more homers? I mean, if he averages 20 a year after this season, he could do that by hanging on for five more seasons (assuming he gets five or more the rest of this season), and he told me he wants to play four to six more years.
I think it’s becoming pretty clear now that Chipper is headed for the Hall of Fame someday.
Now, it’s just a matter of whether he could be a first-ballot selection. What do you think it’ll take? I’m guessing that 450 homers and a plus-.300 average (he’s currently at .310) and plus-.400 OBP (he’s at .406) with, say, 1,600 RBI (he’s at 1,338) would get him in on the first ballot, or at least very close.
Oh, by the way, a batting title and another MVP award would sure help cement first-ballot status. While it’s way too early to talk MVP, especially considering the seasons that Chase Utley and Lance Berkman are having, the batting title is a reasonable goal for a guy who leads the league by more than 30 points this far into the season.
For those wondering how Chipper’s done month-by-month through his career, it’s interesting to note that his best overall offensive months have been April, July and August, and his worst have been May and June.
So that sure could bode well for a guy’s chances of hitting four hund… oh, I’m not even going to say it yet. Let’s wait a few weeks and see if he keeps that average in this stratosphere.
But career-wise, he’s hit .294 in May, .295 in June, .328 in July, .313 in August, .309 in September and .381 in just 14 October regular-season games.
He’s got a .305 career average (and .399 OBP, .538 slugging) before the All-Star break, and a .317 average (.415 OBP, .564 slugging) after the break.
Folks, if anybody’s been better situated to hit .400 since Tony Gwynn’s .394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season, then I’m not aware of who that person would be.
By the way, Chipper has identical .310 career averages against left-handers and right-handers.
Finally, does anyone realize it’s been nearly a year since U Kno Who was on the disabled list? That’s hard to believe, huh?
Since he came back from the DL last June 13 after being out with bone bruises on his hands, Chipper has hit .378 (214-for-566) with a .462 OBP and 1.084 OPS in 148 games, with 39 doubles, 3 triples, 31 homers, 114 RBIs, 92 walks and 69 strikeouts.
The Braves are 80-68 in games he’s played in that stretch, and 1-9 in games without him. That’s right, he’s played all but 10 of their 158 games since June 13.
It took him a few weeks to get his power stroke back after he got back from that last DL stint for the bruised hands. Since July 5, he’s hit .378 with 37 doubles, 30 homers, 102 RBI in 129 games, with a whopping 1.128 OPS in that span.
Jurrjens slips a bit: Reminding us that even the best rookies are still rookies, Jair Jurrjens is 1-0 with an 8.40 ERA and .406 opponents’ average in his past three starts, with 28 hits, 14 earned runs, four homers, 10 walks and 10 strikeouts in 15 innings.
This after he went 5-3 with a 2.64 ERA and .219 opponents’ average in his first 10 starts, with 50 hits, 18 earned runs, one homer, 22 walks and 45 strikeouts in 61-1/3 innings.
The Braves have scored nearly 11 runs per nine innings he’s pitched in his past three starts, which is why he’s not suffered a loss in that stretch. As much as Bobby Cox is prone to hyperbole and protecting his players, Jurrjens really did pitch better than last night’s line (6 innings, 11 hits, 5 runs) would indicated.
Not as great as Bobby said he did, mind you, but Jurrjens wasn’t as as bad as the line indicates. Lot of ground balls, some hits that found holes, some mistakes afield, etc.
Anyway, here’s the stat that still jumps out at me: Jurrjens has made 12 home starts in his career with Detroit and Atlanta, and his teams have won every one of those games. He is 7-0 with a 3.64 ERA in those 12 starts, with nearly seven support runs per nine innings.
Hey, maybe when guys love playing behind you, when you’re a pitcher who doesn’t make the defense stand on its collective heels through ponderous walk-a-thon, picking-at-the-corners innings, then just maybe that also translates to better production from those teammates when they get to bat.
Or maybe it’s just dumb luck.
Anyway, last night was the first time Jurrjens gave up more than four runs or eight hits in a home start, either with the Tigers or Braves.
Speaking of pitching stats: There’s a John Smoltz stat that always blows me away, that’s just about impossible to even wrap your brain around, and one of the few stats we didn’t include in our Smoltz package in the paper the other day after his season-ending surgery announcement.
It happened from midseason 2002 to midseason 2003, when Smoltz, then closing, went just one week shy of a full calendar year of pitching in nothing but Brave wins. Seventy-three in a row.
Yes, from June 1, 2002 to May 25, 2003, Smoltz posted a 1.42 ERA and .177 opponents’ average during a 73-appearance stretch in which the Braves were 73-0 in games when he pitched.
He was 3-0 with 60 saves converted in 62 opportunities in that stretch, while allowing just 47 hits (one homer) and 17 walks with 86 strikeouts in 76 innings. Sheer dominance.
Say what you will about Mariano Rivera as great closer of this generation, because Rivera’s postseason accomplishments have assured him of that distinction. And Trevor Hoffman’s longevity puts him in that discussion of greatest closers of our generation, too.
But for those three-plus seasons that Smoltz filled that role for the Braves, I’d have to say he was the best, most dominant closer in the game.
McCann under the radar: It’s been overshadowed by Chipper’s performance and the Smoltz saga and so much else that’s happened in the first 61 games for this Braves team, but Brian McCann is having one hell of a season.
He hit his 11th homer last night and is batting .307 with 19 doubles, 35 RBI, a .382 OBP and .574 slugging percentage in 56 games. Oh, and lest we not forget the amazing triple by the spry youngster.
I went back to see how this start compared to McCann’s performane through the same point in 2006, when in his first full season he he had one of the greatest offensive seasons since Johnny Bench by any catcher not named Piazza.
McCann finished that season at .333 with 34 doubles, 24 homers and 93 RBI, with a .388 OBP and .572 slugging percentage.
Through June 5 that season, he hit .347 with 10 doubles, five homers and 21 RBI in 40 games, 16 fewer than this season because of injuries. He had a .399 OBP (17 points higher than this season) and a .554 slugging percentage (20 lower).
It’ll be interesting to see how McCann holds up through the hot summer, because this is the healthiest he’s been in a long time and he could be on the way to a huge season to compare with that 2005 performance, which I frankly didn’t know if he’d ever be able to match.
Regardless, he’s certainly headed to his third All-Star Game in his third full season, which is pretty special.
Rock ‘n’ roll movies: Thought I’d bring this subject over from a late comment on the last blog, where I was asked whether I’d seen the movie The Commitments, and it was pointed out how the movie showed behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on in bands, conflicts that can fracture a group or whatever.
Yes, of course I’ve seen the movie (I’m of Irish and Scottish descent, after all). But if you want to see the things that can divide a band, you should rent two movies that show it actually happening, and in excruciating detail: Dig, an outstanding documentary that follows the very different fortunes of two bands that came along at same time — The Dandy Warhols, who had a couple of big hits, and the very talented but self-destructive Brian Jonestown Massacre (who have a huge cult following still, and are still putting out CDs).
Great movie. Not good, great.
And the other is the Metallica doc Some Kind of Monster. It’s hard to watch at times, they do so much bickering. But it’s utterly fascinating. And if you like the band at all, or even as long as you don’t actively dislike them and just like rock music in general, you really must see the movie.
“WILLIE, WAYLON AND ME” by David Alan Coe
I’d heard the Burritos out in California
could fly higher than The Byrds
Roger McQuinn had a 12 string guitar.
It was like nothing I’d ever heard
And the Eagles flew in from the west coast
Like the Byrds they were trying to be free
While in Texas the talk turned to Outlaws
Like Willie and Waylon and me.
Hey!
Well somewhere Texas music is in the make
And we’ve been making music that is free
Doing one night stands and playing with our bands
Willie, Waylon and me
Oh Mad Dog! go to lead
They say the Beatles were just the beginning
of everything music could be
Just like the Stones I was rolling a lone
Like a ship lost out on the sea
And Joplin would die for the future
And Dylan would write poetry
And in Texas the talk turned to Outlaws
Like Willie and Waylon and me
Hey!
My name is David Alan Coe and I’m from Dallas, Texas.
They say Texas music is in the make
And we’ve been making music that is free
Doing one night stands and playing with our bands
Willie, Waylon and me
Big Jim!
I’d heard the Burritos out in California
could fly higher than the Byrds
Roger McQuinn had a 12 string guitar.
It was like nothing I’d ever heard
And the Eagles flew in from the west coast
Like the Byrds they were trying to be free
While in Texas the talk turned to Outlaws
Like Willie and Waylon and me.
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How long will Chipper be a Brave?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After finding out that John Smoltz would have season-ending shoulder surgery, and right away thinking to myself that this could be the end of the Bearded Icon’s illustrious career, I decided to go talk to Chipper Jones before Smoltz’s press conference yesterday morning.
Since one of the four greatest Atlanta Braves of all time (Smoltz) had possibly thrown the last pitch of his career, I was curious about how much longer another one of the four greatest Atlanta Braves of all time (Jones) planned to play.
(For the record, let me just say in my opinion, the four greatest Atlanta Braves of all time are, in no particular order, Dale Murphy, Hank Aaron, Chipper and Smoltz. And I realize that Hank’s greatest years came while the team was in Milwaukee; doesn’t matter to me, because enough of his sheer greatness spilled over into the Atlanta years and left such an indelible mark on the franchise, he goes in the elite foursome.)
(Oh, and Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Phil Niekro are just a tick below those four, in my estimation, Maddux not at the top only because he spent so much of his career with other teams. I could certainly understand some of you arguing that Knucksie and/or Glavine belong with those four I put at the top. Let us know what you think are the top of the top, limiting it to three or four, or fewer if you’d like. Too easy just to put six or seven guys in the same group.)
Anyway, back to Chipper and how long the 36-year-old major league batting leader thinks he’ll don the uniform. Seeing how he’s hitting a ridiculous .409 with 13 homers and 38 RBI, looks like he might be able to do this a while longer, huh?
“I don’t think there’s any reason I can’t play through 40,” he said, “long as I don’t let my body go — which is not going to happen. I’m too active year-round to let my body go.
“”My desire to stick around and play four, five, six more years is strong. I want to accomplish some things here, put up some numbers here as long as the Braves want me. I can’t see going someplace else just to accumulate numbers.”
Chipper needs one homer to give him 400 and make him the fourth active player with at least a .300 career average, 400 homers and 1,300 RBI. Hoss would join A-Rod, Manny and Big Hurt in that elite club.
He leads the majors in batting average, OBP (.492), hits (85) and multi-hit games (28). Stunning totals, particularly given that so many of us thought he was beginning the downhill slope toward retirement a few years ago.
When Chipper restructured his contract before the 2006 season, reducing his $17 million salary to $11 million in 2006 and turning two $15 million vesting options in 2007 and ’08 into $11 mill guaranteed-salary seasons, it was a deal that helped both sides.
It freed up a lot of money for the Braves to try to re-sign Rafael Furcal (that didn’t work out so well) and it gave Chipper some security at a time when his health issues, particularly his feet, made it less than a certainty he was going to remain a productive, reliable 100-RBI man.
As it turned out, the deal has been favorable for the Braves. Jones’ $12.3 average annual salary over these past three seasons (including prorated portions of the $4 million bonus when he restructured the deal) makes him only the sixth-highest paid third baseman (about 45 percent of the average annual value of Alex Rodriguez’s latest contract and nearly $7 million per season below Miguel Cabrera’s).
There are at least 17 major league players with average annual salaries of $17 million or more in their current deals.
Chipper will make about $11 million next season in a vesting-option year to complete his reworked contract.
Given the career resurgence that began in 2006 and only seems to be picking up steam, Jones could certainly expect to command far more as a free agent after next season if he stays relatively healthy and takes his services on the open market.
I mean, this is a guy who has hit, since late June 2006 — are you ready for this? — .364 with a 1.101 OPS in 240 games, with 69 doubles, 6 triples, 61 homers, 191 RBI and 195 runs.
The Braves have a 134-106 record in games he’s played during that stretch, and a 29-41 record in games he has not. They are 31-24 this season when he plays, 0-5 when he does not.
Chipper was out of the lineup yesterday, and for once was able to smile about it. Because he was merely getting a day to rest, nothing health-related, finally.
He’s on pace to play 148 or 149 games this season, after entering the season with a stated goal of 150. The most he’s played in the past four seasons was 137 in 2004. He played 109 games in ‘05, 110 in ‘06 and 134 last season.
So what about that potential one last, big free-agent contract that some team might try to entice Jones with? Perhaps the Rangers, since he already has the ranch in Texas? Or the Rays, not far from his Central Florida roots?
Forget it. Unless the Braves absolutely low-ball him, which seems highly unlikely, Chipper made it clear to me that he plans to, and certainly wants to, play his entire career with one team, with a tomahawk on his chest.
“Sharon [his wife] poses that question quite often,” Jones said of the possibility they would have to move someday. “I say, ‘Hold on, let’s cross that bridge when we get there.’”
As for that relatively modest $11 million salary he’s drawing for the third straight year, Hoss has never, ever complained, or even dropped off-the-record hints that he’s underpaid and that the Braves should make it up to him.
“I’m never going to turn my nose up at $11 million,” he said. “I understand that I’ve had the luxury of playing in the same place for a long time, for the same manager. I have my money. I made my money.”
True. Dude’s made nearly $120 million in his major league career, and that doesn’t include whatever the folks at Mizuno pay him to wear their gear.
Still, the man’s hitting over .400 and about to hit his 400th homer, with 500 homers no longer seeming like the pipe dream that it appeared to be when he was hobbled by foot problems a few years ago.
“I want to get fair market value,” Jones said, “and I’m sure we’ll talk about that in the next year or so.”
By that, he meant something fair for him and the Braves. Because fair-market value for Chipper Jones, right now, the way he’s played the past couple of years, would probably be closer to $20 mill than $10 mill per season.
And he’s not looking for that.
“I don’t play baseball for the first and 15th of each month,” he said, and he was the rare player who actually sounded like he meant it when he said that.
Oh, by the way: Chipper is 3-for-3 with two homers against tonight’s Marlins starter, Ricky Nolasco.
Reckless speculation: Heard a radio host today calling out Rafael Soriano for saying he couldn’t pitch yesterday, for essentially blaming him after Manny Acosta gave up four runs in the ninth to blow the game.
Huh? Soriano was out nearly two months with elbow problems and only came back a week ago. He had pitched three times in the past four games, including back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday.
On Tuesday Soriano finally looked like the Soriano of old, throwing 94-96 mph fastballs and wicket breaking balls.
And so, on the day that Smoltz announces he’s having season-ending elbow surgery, this host would have Soriano out there throwing for a third consecutive day, a week after returning from the DL, in a day game after that impressive performance the night before?
Seems to me that would not have been a wise move. The Braves need a healthy closer, not a guy trying to be a hero throwing three consecutive days so soon after missing nearly two months with an elbow injury.
Oh, and one other very big point: It wasn’t Soriano’s call to make. It was Bobby Cox’s. And he wisely didn’t ask Soriano if he could throw again Wednesday.
Can you imagine the outcry if Soriano had pitched yesterday, with a two-run lead, and hurt that elbow again? How many people would be laying into Cox for overworking him?
Speaking of overworked… Will Ohman’s got a rubber arm and all, but geez, the lefty has now pitched in 19 of 32 Braves games since May 3, and leads the majors with 33 appearances. That’s 33 in 60 games. He’s on pace for a franchise-record 89 appearances.
Acosta slips out quietly: The Braves can live with relievers have an occasional bad day, like Acosta did yesterday when he gave up two two-run bombs in the ninth.
But the young kid better learn quickly that when you blow a game, you don’t slip out of the clubhouse and leave others to answer questions about the loss. Not a wise move. That’s what Acosta did yesterday, leaving before the media entered the clubhouse.
The last guy I could remember doing that was Eli Marrero. He lasted one season with the Braves before he was traded away.
By the way, Acosta has allowed more runs (five) in 1-2/3 innings over his last three appearances than he allowed in his previous 25 appearances.
He gave up four runs in his first game this season, then posted a 1.30 ERA and .198 opponents’ average with only one homer and four runs allowed in 27-2/3 innings over 25 appearances before giving up a homer at Cincinnati on Saturday and blowing saves Monday and Wednesday against the Marlins (his blown save Monday was overshadowed by Smoltz’s blown save later in the same game).
Acosta could be going through a dead-arm period or just a bit tired, after all the good work that he and Ohman and Blaine Boyer have done. Of course, we’ll have to guess with Acosta, since he didn’t stick around to discuss it.
Which is why…. The Braves are both welcoming the return of lefty reliever Mike Gonzalez, which should be in about a week, and why they’ve also had their antennae up for potential starters who might become available.
But I talked to GM Frank Wren last night, and he made it clear the Braves would not sell the farm to acquire a starting pitcher who wasn’t a clear upgrade over the starters the Braves have.
And so far, that’s the kind of price that teams with available starters are asking. Teams know the Braves have several prospects who are ready, or close to ready, to play or pitch in the majors, and those teams want one or two of them.
The Braves really like their bullpen, especially after the encouraging Soriano performance his last time out and with Gonzalez coming back soon.
But there is concern about the starters still not getting deep into games most nights. And that also makes you wonder about the Greg Maddux thing.
Yes, everyone is talking about it, because it’s such an interesting and potential feel-good story, reuniting Mad Dog with Glavine and the soon-to-be arm-in-a-sling Smoltzy for one last run at the playoffs.
Then maybe all three of them could retire after the season and go into the Hall of Fame together.
But folks, is Maddux really the answer for this team? I’d sure love having the guy here. Easily one of my favorite guys to cover in 14 years of doing this, a fascinating, funny guy and best pitcher of our generation.
But do the Braves need another five-inning starter, even if those five innings are quality innings? Yes, in another few weeks he might look like a better option than, say, Campillo, if Campillo returns to earth and we find out he’s not all that.
But so far, Campillo has done better work in his four starts than Mad Dog has done most of the season. And Jo-Jo Reyes has shown signs of developing into a solid starter, and you don’t want to pull the rug out from under him unless he regresses.
And keep in mind, Charlie Morton is seriously knocking at the door. I mean, that 13-strikeout, one-hit, eight-inning performance this week … whew. He’s really putting it all together at Richmond.
Also, Joe Blanton. I keep reading his name here and elsewhere. Do people who want him so badly actually pay attention to how he’s been pitching?
Blanton is 3-7 with a 4.27 ERA and .282 opponents’ average in 13 starts this season, with just 41 strikeouts and 21 walks in 86-1/3 innings. He’s pitched fewer than seven innings in seven of those 13 starts, including four of his past five. And that’s a big upgrade worth giving up prospects for?
Maddux, by the way, is 3-4 with a 3.48 ERA in 13 starts, but he should have a far better record if he’d gotten any run support (he’s received a putrid 3.2 support runs per nine innings pitched).
Actually, Mad Dog has given up two earned runs or fewer in each of his past four starts, and lasted six and seven innings in his past two after working fewer than six innings in four of his previous five starts.
So maybe Mad Dog is just getting tuned up for a playoff run with a contender. Hey, if Charlie Morton ain’t ready and Campillo can’t keep his blisters in check, then there are certainly a lot worse moves one could make than adding the greatest pitcher of our generation to the staff down the stretch (I like to keep saying greatest pitcher of our generation, given recent scandals in the sport).
One more thing: What’s the deal with that tornado footage from Iowa or wherever it was, showing the roof of that house getting torn off. They said it was taken from a bank ATM. Does this farmer have an ATM in his front yard? I mean, there’s no street, no other buildings in sight. Just a camera focused directly on what appears to be a house in the middle of the countryside. And they kept saying, footage taken from an ATM camera….
Oh, and this Aleve commercial. The one where the middle-aged woman asks how she keeps up her Motown moves and says it’s by taking Aleve and blah blah blah. Then she starts dancing, quite whitely, and keeps dancing … and dancing … and dancing … I swear, I’m waiting for the woman to start break-dancing, doing the robot, the cabbage patch. I mean, she just goes on, and on, and on.
Almost as annoying as the guy in the UPS ads (smile).
OK, a tune: They’re showing Scorcese’s Rolling Stones documentary tonight at the Fabulous Fox Theatre here in Atlanta. So let’s tip a cap (and lift a glass) to the Glimmer Twins.
”YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT” by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
I saw her today at a reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she would meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man
No, you can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need
I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need
Oh yeah, hey hey hey, oh…
And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, “We’re gonna vent our frustration
If we don’t we’re gonna blow a 50-amp fuse”
Sing it to me now…
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
Oh baby, yeah, yeah!
I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was “dead”
I said to him
You can’t always get what you want, no!
You can’t always get what you want (tell ya baby)
You can’t always get what you want (no)
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need
Oh yes! Woo!
You get what you need — yeah, oh baby!
Oh yeah!
I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need
You can’t always get what you want (no, no baby)
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need, ah yes….
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Escobar homers on 3-0 pitch — problem with that?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While we listen to the great “Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger” CD and lament the passing of another music giant, we’ll offer a few quick thoughts about last night’s game and some facts and figures about Yunel Escobar, John Smoltz and the split-personality Braves (At home, they rule. On road? Not cool.)
First, let’s make sure I have this straight: Yunel Escobar hits a game-ending, 10th-inning, two-run homer to beat the Marlins and save the Braves and Smoltz from a homestand-opening defeat, and a few folks here on the ol’ Braves/MIB blog decide that it was flat-out wrong for Escobar to hit said homer on a 3-0 pitch?
Oh, my.
Never let it be said that sports fans care about results more than anything else. At least not all sports fans.
Really, that was the issue that demanded the attention of a few of you, more than anything else from last night’s game? I find that astounding, but hey, I’m just a paid observer, not a passionate fan.
For the record, let me say that manager Bobby Cox said after the game that Escobar had the green light to swing there, because Cox considers him to be one of the best “right-field hitters” in the game, and was confident that if Escobar swung, he could put the ball in play to the right side of the field and move Kelly Johnson from second to third base or drive him in.
Of course, Escobar did hit it to right, or at least slightly right of straightaway center. And did hit it over the fence, the first walk-off homer of his career.
And guess what? It came on the one-year anniversary of Escobar’s arrival in the major leagues. Wish I’d know this last night, but I only realized it when I was going through his day-by-day totals just now here at the home office.
Yes, it was June 2, 2007, when Escobar, just up from Richmond, went 2-for-4 with a game-winning RBI double in the eighth inning at sold-out Wrigley Field in Chicago.
But anyway, let’s get back to his swinging at that 3-0 pitch.
I checked on Stats, Inc. this morning to see how many times Escobar has swung at 3-0 pitches this season. He’s had nine 3-0 counts and took the fourth pitch eight times — six times it was ball 4, twice he took strikes.
Last night, for the first time all season, he swung. And hit a two-run homer.
You know what? I like those odds. Perhaps until he proves he can’t handle the responsibility, a smart manager might just let Escobar have the green light in said situations.
Of course, maybe you feel otherwise, that it would have been better for him to have taken that pitch and possibly drawn a walk? Done it for the greater good and all that. Followed “the book.”
Whatever. I’ll respectfully disagree and say that when a guy swings at a 3-0 pitch for the first time in nine such situations, and hit that pitch for a game-winning homer, his aggressiveness works just fine by me.
By the way, seems like there’s been a bit of an increase in Escobar critics among some fans lately, folks who don’t like his swagger or his aggressiveness or whatever.
If he smiled a lot and spoke fluent English, I’m going to guess that perception might be a bit different.
This kid’s a helluva talent, and he’s not a problem whatsoever in the clubhouse, at least not according to everybody I’ve talked to.
And for some idea of how good Escobar has been in his first full season in the majors, I did a quick, cursory comparison to some familiar names.
Granted, Escobar is a bit older (listed as 25, born 11/2/82) than these other guys were in their first full season and/or calendar year in the bigs, but most of them also played one position on an every-day basis and weren’t moved around the infield and used as part-time or platoon players initially.
Anyway, for what it’s worth:
Escobar has hit .316 (169-for-535) with 31 doubles, 1 triple, 10 homers, 53 RBI, 87 runs, 7 stolen bases, a .379 OBP and .434 slugging percentage in 149 games.
Rafael Furcal hit .295 (134-for-455) with 20 doubles, 4 triples, 4 homers, 37 RBI, 87 runs, 40 stolen bases, a .394 OBP and a .382 slugging percentage in 131 games as a rookie in 2000.
Edgar Renteria hit .284 (161-for-567) with 21 doubles, 3 triples, 6 homers, 42 RBI, 81 runs, 21 stolen bases, a .333 OBP and a .363 slugging percentage in 140 games in his first calendar year in the majors with the Marlins, from May 10, 1996 to May 10, 1997
(Actually that’s a year plus one day, just like Escobar’s year plus one day).
Chipper Jones hit .268 (141-for-527) with 23 doubles, 3 triples, 23 homers, 86 RBI, 89 runs, a .355 OBP and a .454 slugging percentage in his first 148 games through the end of the 1995 season.
Hey, like I said, just a cursory glance, not any definitive comparison. I’m in a hurry here.
By the way, Escobar has given the home fans plenty of reason to dig him. He’s hit .341 with five homers and an .856 OPS in 74 career games at Turner Field, including .407 (24-for-59) with 11 RBI in 15 home games since May 3.
And the Miami resident sure seems to enjoy hitting against those Fishes: Escobar has hit .424 (28-for-66) with six doubles, four homers and a whopping 1.176 OPS in 17 games against the Marlins.
Tomorrow night’s Marlins starter is veteran Mark Hendrickson. Escobar is 5-for-6 with a homer against him.
Braves and saves: The Braves rank among NL leaders in most pitching categories this season, but are dead last in the majors in saves (eight) and save opportunities (14).
John Smoltz, who had converted 20-of-20 save opportunities against Florida and never allowed a run against them in 29 relief appearances during his previous stint as a closer, gave up two runs and was tagged with a blown save last night in his first relief appearance in 44 months.
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see where Smoltz stood at this point in the season during his three full seasons (2002-04) as arguably the game’s most dominant closer.
His best start to a season in that role was in 2003, when Smoltz converted 20 of 21 saves through June 2 and posted a 0.92 ERA in 27 appearances, with 38 strikeouts, four walks and no homers allowed in 29-1/3 innings.
Wow. Utterly overwhelming.
Folks, the good news for the Braves out of Smoltz’s appearance last night was that he really did throw hard (95 mph on a couple of pitches when I happened to glance at the scoreboard radar gun) and with very good movement.
Provided his shoulder remains sound enough and the pain can be kept at tolerable levels, he really can give the Braves a big boost at the back end of the bullpen, especially since he can be used reasonably and be given needed rest because the Braves have other options to closer games.
I’ll be curious to see if Smoltz has anything to say about how his shoulder feels today, after his first, real, adrenaline-pumped test in the new role (minor league rehab games aren’t even close to the real thing).
And who knows, maybe next time they’ll be able to finish the Pict-O-Word promotion in time for the crowd to enjoy Smoltz’s entrance to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck. (I’m still in a state of disbelief that they allowed that interactive in-game promo thing to continue unabated on the huge video board as Smoltz walked in from the bullpen and every fan in attendance stood to applaud him.)
OK, out of time: Wanted to get into some more home-road stats and Chippers’ recent power outage and such, but I’ve got to get to the ballpark. Anyone got the soon-to-be-released new CD from My Morning Jacket yet? I’m reading great reviews, including four stars from Rolling Stone. For those fans of The Roots, if you haven’t bought their new CD, run, don’t walk, to the store and get it. I seriously think it’s as good as anything they’ve ever done.
”WHO DO YOU LOVE?” by Elias McDaniel (a.k.a. Bo Diddley)
I walk 47 miles of barbed wire,
I use a cobra snake for a necktie,
I got a brand new house on the roadside,
Made from rattlesnake hide,
I got a brand new chimney made on top,
Made out of a human skull,
Now come on take a walk with me, Arlene,
And tell me, who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Tombstone hand and a graveyard mine,
Just 22 and I don’t mind dying.
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
I rode around the town, use a rattlesnake whip,
Take it easy Arlene, don’t give me no lip.
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Night was dark, but the sky was blue,
Down the alley, the ice-wagon flew,
Heard a bump, and somebody screamed,
You should have heard just what I seen.
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Arlene took me by my hand,
And she said ooowee Bo, you know I understand.
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
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The man said “putrid”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Good to be back. Or, rather, good to have missed that debacle of a road trip, during which the Braves helped spawn a monster with a tremendous nickname — Reds rookie Jay Bruce, a.k.a. Bruce Almighty — while doing their part to assure that Braves fans had plenty of opportunities to channel-surf or mow the lawn without having to worry about possibly missing a Braves offensive highlight.
Did someone say putrid? (Actually, someone did use that adjective to describe the Braves on the road. Someone named Tim Hudson, yesterday in Cincy.)
Speaking of Huddy, we should have an update on yesterday’s injuries to Hudson (hamstring) and Blaine Boyer (knee) sometime after 3 this afternoon (that’s for the regular here who is still going to type within 15 minutes of this being posted, “Any update on Hudson or Boyer?” Just my pointless preemptive strike.)
Also, we probably won’t know whether John Smoltz is going to be activated tonight until later today. No announcement yet.
Anyway, watching the replay of the awkward Boyer slip on the mound and injury left me thinking the dude looked a bit tired. And that would certainly be understandable.
Boyer has pitched in 31 games, people. That’s more games than anyone in the major leagues has pitched in except for Washington’s Luis Ayala.
Provided Boyer isn’t seriously injured, perhaps he’ll get a bit more rest with the pending return of Smoltz and, in couple of weeks, Mike Gonzalez.
Honestly, I’m surprised that Boyer has been run out there so frequently, given his health history in the past few years. But the hard-throwing young righty from Marietta has been good, and manager Bobby Cox will stick with a few reliable relievers as long as he can, as we’ve seen in the past.
Still, Boyer has pitched in 25 of the Braves’ 44 games since April 16. Think about that. It’s a lot, any way you present it.
And his 31 appearances in 57 team games projects to 88 appearances for the season (keep in mind, his rate since mid-April is significantly higher).
While we’re on the subject, the returns of Smoltz and Gonzalez also might beneft Will Ohman, the lefty who’s tied for third-most appearances in the majors (30), and young Manny Acosta, who has appeared in 22 of 43 games since April 17.
Let’s see, anything else we need to touch on? Oh, yeah….
The Road Pox: With more than one-third of the season complete, the Braves have somehow managed to maintained nearly perfect symmetry — or is it asymmetry in this case? — vis-a-vis their home and road performance.
Perfectly fine at home, and perfectly (let’s use it one more time) putrid on the road.
Does everyone out there realize just how unusual this is, for a team this far into a season — again, keep in mind over one-third of the season is in the books — to have the second-most home wins and fewest road wins in its entire league?
It’s hard to imagine a team to be 22-7 with a 3.12 ERA and .307 batting average at home, and only 7-21 with a 4.02 ERA and .247 batting average on the road. Or I should say, it would be hard to imagine, if we weren’t watching said team.
Since April 26, the Braves are 14-3 at home and 3-14 on the road. Astounding.
For now, at least, they no longer lay claim to having the fewest road losses and most home losses, because Colorado (defending NL pennant winners, we might add) are 8-23 on the road. Then again, the Rockies are only 12-14 at home.
An explanation for the Braves dichotomy? I have none, frankly. Other than, you might remember what I said here — and on-air, on my 680 The Fan segments — about all the early road losses, and particularly the one-run defeats.
What I said was that the defeatist mentality, an attitude of waiting for something bad to happen late in games, could creep into the heads of players, particularly young players, if they kept losing all those close games. You know, pass me a bowl of sad.
Instead of playing to win, they might start playing to not lose in those tight situations late in games.
Well, to me it appears that’s exactly what’s happened - not just with the younger players, but with plenty of veterans, too.
Oh, we also opined in the past couple of weeks that the road record would probably start to even out soon, that the Braves wouldn’t keep losing three out of every four road games, just as they wouldn’t continue winning four out of every five home games.
Well, they’ve continued losing at an even worse rate on the road. So that part hasn’t transpired as we thought it would. At least not yet.
Meanwhile, with four games against the second-place Marlins and three against the division-leading Phillies, the Braves had best be on top of their game this week at home, or the part about the home record starting to even out a bit could happen.
Keep in mind, they lost two of four against Arizona just before going on the road this last time.
Tex as Whipping Boy: It was easy to lay much of the Braves’ early struggles at the feet of Mark Teixeira, who said himself on several occasions that he wasn’t hitting enough home runs or driving in enough runs.
But folks, there are many other far more deserving places to point fingers in recent weeks, rather than the switch-hitting first baseman and Scott Boras client who’s likely to become a free agent next winter (I use that description because face it, those factors reduce many fans’ patience or sympathy; I get it, and fully understand, but how ‘bout a bit of objectivity at this stage?).
Just for the record, Teixeira is doing basically what he’s done in each of his previous five seasons in the majors (for the members of the audience who really hate that, sorry, but we’re just pointing out a fact. This guy starts slowly and always finishes with similar numbers at year’s end. At least he has during each of his first five seasons before this one.)
In 16 games since May 17, Teixeira is 21-for-60 (.350) with five doubles, three homers, 19 RBI, eight walks, eight strikeouts, a .420 OBP and a .583 slugging percentage (1.003 OPS).
Oh, by the way: If it seems like Teixeira has come up empty in a whole lot of crucial situations — and I agree, it sure seems that way — then at least consider this stat:
In close-and-late situations, basically tied or one-run games after the sixth inning, Teixeira is a team-best 12-for-30 (.400) with three doubles, two homers (of the team’s five), four walks, two strikeouts and an 1.171 OPS.
Chipper (.333) and Kotsay (.308) are the only other Braves regulars batting as high as .280 in close-and-late situations.
The team’s worst? Gregor Blanco is 2-for-18, and Yunel Escobar is just 3-for-33 with one RBI in close-and-late situations.
Late innings juxtaposition: While we’re on the subject of performance in the late innings, here’s a stat that startled me a bit when I came across it this morning.
In the first through sixth innings, Chipper has hit .458 (66-for-144) with 20 extra-base hits (11 homers), 25 walks, 31 RBI and a 1.282 OPS.
But in the seventh inning and later, Hoss has hit .268 (15-for-56) with three extra-base hits (one homer), nine walks, four RBI and a .736 OPS.
Meanwhile, it’s nearly the opposite for Teixeira. He’s hit .245 (19-for-151) with four homers, 28 RBI and a .708 OPS in the first through sixth innings, and .339 (20-for-59) with four homers, 12 RBI and a 1.070 OPS after the sixth.
Remember Frenchy Almighty? Cincinnati has put its collective arms around rookie phenom Jay Bruce, who’s hit a silly .591 (13-for-22) with two homers, six RBI and six walks in his first six games in the majors.
I couldn’t help but think of how similar it felt to the vibe around Atlanta when local high school legend Jeff Francoeur arrived in the big leagues with the Braves at midseason 2005 and homered in his first game.
Anyway, just three years later Frenchy is struggling, looking for answers. He’s still on pace to put up 17 homers and 94 RBI, but this season just hasn’t been impressive but for a few games from the strong-armed right fielder.
He’s hit .244 in his past 45 games with three homers, 22 RBI, a .308 OBP and a .381 slugging percentage, and on the just-concluded trip he hit .190 with one RBI in six games, that on a homer.
For the season, Francoeur is hitting .256 with a .309 OBP, which are a lot closer to his disappointing 2006 totals (.260 average, .293 OBP) than to his marked improvement in 2007 (.293 average, .338 OBP).
Meanwhile, his power numbers are even lower than last season, when he dropped to 19 homers from 29 in 2006.
Braves outfielders have hit 14 homers, and only the Nationals and Dodgers outfielders (nine for each unit) have hit fewer among NL teams.
Francoeur is only hitting .250 (16-for-64) with runners in scoring position, after hitting a robust .341 in 2007 and .320 in 2006.
If you ask me, most of his struggles have to do with pitchers who’ve all gotten the book on him by now and are exploiting his over-aggressiveness and the holes in his swing. It’s those factors, not muscle he added in the offseason, that’s cut into his production.
The kid’s still only 24. He’s a hard worker who wants badly to succeed, and he cares about winning as much as anyone in the clubhouse. For those reasons, plus his obvious talent, I still believe he’ll develop into a good to very good major league player who hits .275-.280 with 20-30 homers and 100-110 RBI a year.
It’s just unfortunate, in some ways, that he made such a huge splash early and was tagged with “The Natural” label on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Everyone assumed he was the next Chipper Jones or Mickey Mantle.
Yunel scuffling: Shortstop Yunel Escobar has hit .245 with just three extra-base hits, a .287 OBP and a .298 slugging percentage in his past 22 games, with a .287 OBP in that span.
This after hitting .333 with eight extra-base hits and a .418 OBP and .462 slugging percentage in his first 22 games.
By the way, for those thinking it’s the finger he hurt in New York that’s undermined his performance: He went 12-for-30 (.400) in his first eight games after coming back from that injury.
Perhaps it’s hurt his power stroke, though. When I asked him a week ago, he said the finger was fine. But that doesn’t mean a lot. He’s a tough kid who’s not going to admit if he’s hurting a bit.
It’s odd that last season, both Kelly Johnson and Escobar had outstanding stats in the leadoff role. This season neither has been able to produce in that spot, and the Braves rank near the bottom of the league in most leadoff stats.
There’s no easy solution to the problem, but it might be time to try one of the rookies, Blanco and/or Josh Anderson, in the role. Anderson’s late-season numbers with Houston indicate he might be able to handle it.
Hoss’ power outage: Chipper Jones is still leading the major league batting race by 20 points and still hitting over .400 (.405) into June, but the third baseman is not hitting much other than singles lately.
He’s 11-for-30 (.367) with one double, no RBI, a .400 slugging percentage and 10 walks in his past nine games.
This after hitting .421 (53-for-126) with 20 extra-base hits (11 homers), 26 RBI, 20 walks and a .754 slugging percentage over his previous 33 games.
But it might be time for a binge. Chipper is 13-for-19 with three homers and 12 RBI against the two Florida starters scheduled to work the first two games in the series, lefty Scott Olsen tonight and rookie Burke Bradenhop Tuesday.
By the way, seven Braves regulars are hitting .319 or higher at home, while only Chipper (.371) is hitting above .271 on the road.
Yikes.
OK, diversions: Enjoyed six days at home, with enough time ride my motorcycles, rent a bunch of movies and listen to a lot of music when I wasn’t paying bills, getting one motorcycle serviced (supposed to take two hours, took five), buying a new mower, mowing the lawn, paying more bills, going to the periodontist, etc. In other words, an actual life.
The latest Elbow CD, The Seldom Seen Kid is outstanding. A few songs remind me of Peter Gabriel, but they’re a bit edgier…. Bought a DVD of the Public Enemy 1987 European tour, specifically the show in London at Hammersmith Odeon where they taped the live intros for the It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back album. Reminded me of how vital a group they really were…. Rent the movie The Orphanage if you love scary movies like The Omen (the original). Also, the director’s cut of Donnie Darko is absolutely worth renting if you’ve only seen the original without the second disc of extras. Or if you just haven’t seen that cool movie in a while. And I finally rented Dirty Pretty Things, a very good flick.
Now a tune that transcends:
“HEY PORTER” by Johnny Cash
Hey porter! Hey porter!
Would you tell me the time?
How much longer will it be till we cross
that Mason Dixon Line?
At daylight would ya tell that engineer
to slow it down?
Or better still, just stop the train,
Cause I wanna look around.
Hey porter! Hey porter!
What time did ya say?
How much longer will it be till I can
see the light of day?
When we hit Dixie will you tell that engineer
to ring his bell?
And ask everybody that ain’t asleep
to stand right up and yell.
Hey porter! Hey porter!
It’s getting light outside.
This old train is puffin’ smoke,
and I have to strain my eyes.
But ask that engineer if he will
blow his whistle please.
Cause I smell frost on cotton leaves
and I feel that Southern breeze.
Hey porter! Hey porter!
Please get my bags for me.
I need nobody to tell me now
that we’re in Tennessee.
Go tell that engineer to make that
lonesome whistle scream,
We’re not so far from home
so take it easy on the steam.
Hey porter! Hey porter!
Please open up the door.
When they stop the train I’m gonna get off first
Cause I can’t wait no more.
Tell that engineer I said thanks alot,
and I didn’t mind the fare.
I’m gonna set my feet on Southern soil
and breathe that Southern air.
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Starting with a clean slate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OK, clean slate. Figured you guys might like to blog anew today so I’m here to serve with some scribble to put at the top and let you guys have at it.
It’s June 1, yet another reason for a clean slate.
(We’re ignoring the fact that we’re still in Cincinnati and still dealing with Jay Bruce, because hey, it’s a gorgeous morning and and Tim Hudson is on the mound. And I managed to make it out of the hotel room this morning, even though Band of Brothers was on the History channel and I love it. Yes a Tom Boy, all the way through.)
Let’s take a minute to wrap up May: Braves went 17-12 for the month, which is a step up from a 12-15 April. They went 14-3 at home in May and 3-9 on the road (yadda yadda yadda).
For the month, Braves pitchers were second in ERA in the National League with a 3.44 ERA. And I couldn’t help but notice they had only four saves in five opportunities; that’ll tell you something about the way close games have gone.
Maybe now that they’re about to get a bunch of closers back, that’ll change, eh? John Smoltz sounds like he’s ready to come off Monday with another good outing in Rome last night. Soriano was a little wild at first last night but settled in OK. Gonzo is probably a couple of weeks away.
Braves hit .280 in May, which was third in the National League. I will say, their 22 home run total was 15th in the league. Not so good. Only the Dodgers with 19 had fewer.
Chipper finished May with 81 hits on the season, which puts him right there with Ralph Garr as the Atlanta Brave with the most hits through May. Entering play Sunday, Jones was still leading the majors with a .413 batting average, 81 hits, and 26 multi-hit games.
Josh Hamilton was second with 24 multi-hit games by the way, to go along with his .326 average, 14 homers and 61 RBIs. The Reds have to be kicking themselves for that trade, except for the season Edinson Volquez is putting up. I say they can’t feel too bad. What do you think?
I’m sure there are some other interesting monthly tidbits in there some of you guys might find. I’m trying to bang this out before first pitch, so feel free to throw out a few.
We’re about to see if the Braves can get out of town without giving up No. 600 to Ken Griffey Jr. Jair Jurrjens became the 383rd pitcher to give up a Griffey homer on Saturday when he gave up No. 599.
Hudson has given up one Griffey homer in his career (Griffey is 6-for-21 off him - .287).
Another of the 383 pitchers had some nice things to say Sunday about Griffey, who is about to become the sixth player to hit 600 home runs along with Sammy Sosa, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds (no comment on the order I just had to put those guys in).
Tom Glavine, who kept Griffey in the ballpark on Friday night, had held Griffey to 7-for-28 (.250) with one homer:
“About time,” Glavine said with a smile when asked about Griffey getting to 600. “With him it’s two things. You look at him and you see what he’s done. And you realize how great a player he is, and on the other hand you wonder how good he could have been if he didn’t get hurt. I don’t think there are too many guys that would not agree, had he stayed healthy he would have blown the home run record out of the water. Unfortunately he had a span of time there where it was hard for him to stay healthy.”
Kind of a bummer, I asked (using the formal questioning techniques I learned at Duke).
“It stinks when you see anybody get hurt, especially when you see a guy as gifted and talented as he is,” Glavine said. “He’s fun to watch.”
GO DUSTY: And this little nugget of beauty comes today from C. Trent Rosecrans a former Georgia hack who’s doing radio and blogging up here now. He said Dusty Baker was pretty funny this morning talking about Bobby and his ejection yesterday for the play at the plate. Baker got suspended two games last weekend for bumping an umpire in San Diego.
“I learned something from Bobby; he’s the king of ejections,” Baker said. “I learned — he crosses his arms, he kept his distance. I was really studying Bobby. I was, I’m not kidding. I ain’t lying to you. He was careful not turn on anybody, he backed up before he turned.”
THANKS, BRUCE: As good as Bruce has been - hitting a cool .579 in his first five major league games - he gets to pay Josh Anderson a compliment while he’s at it. Bruce became the first major leaguer with at least 11 hits in his first 20 at-bats since Josh Anderson went 11-for-20 last September for the Astros.
Headline in the BOTH the Enquirer and Dayton Daily News this morning was “Bruce Almighty” after his walkoff homer yesterday. Good stuff.
SKED CHANGE: Braves game vs. the Angels has been picked up by ESPN on Sunday, June 15 and changed from a 3:35 p.m. start to 8:05 p.m. Hope DOB doesn’t get messed on flight arrangements.
Speaking of, he’ll be back in action tomorrow. I’m bet he’s raring to go and ready to blog like crazy.
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